Bella Meets The Cullen's Again
by twiwriter98
Summary: That fateful night in the woods, when Edward said goodbye, Bella tried to follow, but was attacked by Victoria, who changed her unwillingly. Now, almost a century later, Bella and the rest of the Swan family are starting fresh at a new school... that smells like vampires. What will Bella do when she comes face to face with her past?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**A/N: Hey! Ok, this is my first ever Twilight fanfiction that I'm putting up for reading on the internet. I've published a Gallagher Girl one on here (on a different account), and written too many Twilight fanfictions to keep track of. Then I thought it was an unhealthy addiction, so I deleted them all. One of which was a 67 page story, so I'm pretty bummed about that. Then I thought that if I ever thought it was an 'unhealthy addiction' again, then I could delete them without worrying later, because I would post them on ! So yeah. Please read and enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or anything in correspondent to it. Stephenie Meyer owns everything in this chapter.**

**The beginning is from New Moon, but I added in a line by Edward, which might come back in later in the story. It tells you when Stephenie Meyer's writing stops and mine begins.**

**So please, read and hopefully enjoy!**

"_Okay, let's talk," I said. It sounded braver than it felt._

_He took a deep breath._

"_Bella, we're leaving."_

_I took a deep breath, too. This was an acceptable option. I thought I was prepared. But I still had to ask._

"_Why now? Another year-"_

"_Bella, it's time. How much longer could we stay in Forks, after all? Carlisle can barely pass for thirty, and he's claiming thirty-three now. We'd have to start over soon regardless."_

_His answer confused me. I thought the point of leaving was to let his family live in peace. Why did we have to leave if they were going? I stared at him, trying to understand what he meant._

_He stared back coldly._

_With a roll of nausea, I realised I'd misunderstood._

"_When you say _we_-" I whispered._

"_I mean my family and myself." Each word separate and distinct._

_I shook my head back and forth mechanically, trying to clear it. He waited without any sign of impatience. It took a few minutes before I could speak._

"_Okay," I said. "I'll come with you."_

"_You can't, Bella. Where we're going… It's not the right place for you."_

"_Where you are is the right place for me."_

"_I'm no good for you, Bella."_

"_Don't be ridiculous." I wanted to sound angry, but it just sounded like I was begging. "You're the very best part of my life."_

"_My world is not for you," he said grimly._

"_What happened with Jasper-that was nothing, Edward! Nothing!"_

"_You're right," he agreed. "It was exactly what was to be expected."_

"_You promised! In Phoenix, you promised that you would stay-"_

"_As long as that was best for you," he interrupted to correct me._

"No! _This is about my soul, isn't it?" I shouted, furious, the words exploding out of me-somehow it still sounded like a plea. "Carlisle told me about that, and I don't care, Edward. You can have my soul. I don't want it without you-it's yours already!"_

_He took a deep breath and stared, unseeingly, at the ground for a long moment. His mouth twisted the tiniest bit. When he finally looked up, his eyes were different, harder-like the liquid gold had frozen solid._

"_Bella, I don't want you to come with me." He spoke the words slowly and precisely, his cold eyes on my face, watching as I absorbed what he was really saying._

_There was a pause as I repeated the words in my head a few times, sifting through them for their real intent._

"_You… don't… want me?" I tried out the words, confused by the way they sounded, place in that order._

"_No."_

_I stared, uncomprehending, into his eyes. He stared back without apology. His eyes were like topaz-hard and clear and very deep. I felt like I could stare into them for miles and miles, yet nowhere in their bottomless depths could I see a contradiction to the words he'd spoken._

"_Well, that changes things." I was surprised by how calm and reasonable my voice sounded. It must be because I was so numb. I couldn't realize what he was telling me. It still didn't make any sense._

_He looked away into the trees as he spoke again. "Of course, I'll always love you… in a way. But what happened the other night made me realize that it's time for a change. Because I'm… _tired _of pretending to be something I'm not, Bella. I am not human." He looked back, and the icy planes of his perfect face were _not _human. "I've let this go on for much too long, and I'm sorry for that."_

"_Don't." My voice was just a whisper now; awareness was beginning to seep through me, trickling through my veins. "Don't lie to me. You said it yourself; you love me. How can I forget those countless times? Don't do this, Edward."_

"_Bella." He took a step closer to me and leant down, so that our faces were mere inches apart. "I know you're human, but please try to grasp this concept. I don't love you, Bella. I. don't. love. you."_

_I stared at him, tears welling up in my eyes as I realized he was telling the truth._

"_You're not good for me, Bella." He turned his earlier words around, and so I had no argument. How well I knew that I wasn't good enough for him._

_I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it again. He waited patiently, his face wiped clean of all emotion. I tried again._

"_If… that's what you want."_

_He nodded once._

_My whole body went numb. I couldn't feel anything below the neck. "I would like to ask one favour, though, if it's not too much," he said._

_I wonder what he saw on my face, because something flickered across his own face in response. But, before I could identify it, he'd composed his features into the same serene mask._

"_Anything," I vowed, my voice faintly stronger._

_As I watched, his frozen eyes melted. The gold became liquid again, molten burning down into mine with an intensity that was overwhelming._

"_Don't do anything reckless or stupid," he ordered, no longer detached. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"_

_I nodded helplessly._

_His eyes cooled, the distance returned. "I'm thinking of Charlie, of course. He needs you. Take care of yourself-for him."_

_I nodded again. "I will," I whispered._

_He summed to relax just a little._

"_And I'll make you a promise in return," he said. "I promise that this will be the last time you'll see me. I won't come back. I won't put you through anything like this again. You can go on with your life without any more interference from me. It will be as if I'd never existed."_

_My knees must have started to shake, because the trees were suddenly wobbling. I could hear the blood pounding way faster than normal behind my ears. His voice sounded farther away._

_He smiled gently. "Don't worry. You're human-your memory is no more than a sieve. Time heals all wounds for your kind."_

"_And your memories?" I asked. It sounded like there was something stuck in my throat, like I was choking._

"_Well" –he hesitated for a short second- "I won't forget. But _my _kind… we're very easily distracted." He smiled; the smile was tranquil and it did not touch his eyes._

_He took a step away from me. "That's everything, I suppose. We won't bother you again."_

_The plural caught my attention. That surprised me; I would have thought I was beyond noticing anything._

"_Alice isn't coming back," I realized. I don't know how he heard me-the words made no sound-but he seemed to understand._

_He shook his head slowly, always watching my face._

"_No. They're all gone. I stayed behind to tell you goodbye."_

"_Alice is gone?" My voice was blank with disbelief._

"_She wanted to say goodbye, but I convinced her that a clean break would be better for you."_

_I was dizzy; it was hard to concentrate. His words swirled around my head, and I heard the doctor at the hospital in Phoenix, last spring, when he showed me the X-rays. _You can see it's a clean break, _his finger traced along the picture of my severed bone. _That's good. It will heal more easily, more quickly.

_I tried to breathe normally. I needed to concentrate, to find a way out of this nightmare._

"_Goodbye, Bella,: he said in the same quiet, peaceful voice._

"_Wait!" I choked out the word, reaching for him, willing my deadened legs to carry me forward._

_I thought he was reaching for me, too. But his cold hands locked around my wrists and pinned them to my sides. He leaned down and pressed his lips very lightly to my forehead for the briefest instant. My eyes closed._

"_Take care of yourself," he breathed, cool against my skin._

_There was a light, unnatural breeze. My eyes flashed open. The leaves on a small vine maple shuddered with the gentle wind of his passage._

_He was gone._

_With shaky legs, ignoring the fact that my action was useless, I followed him into the forest. The evidence of his path had disappeared instantly. there were no footprints, the leaves were still again, but I walked forward without thinking. I could not do anything else. I had to keep moving. If I stopped looking for him, it was over._

_Love, life, meaning… over._

_I walked and walked. Time made no sense as I pushed slowly through the thick undergrowth. It was hours passing, but also seconds. Maybe it felt like time had frozen because the forest looked the same no matter how far I went. I started to worry that I was travelling in a circle, a very small circle at that, but I kept going. I stumbled often, and, as it grew darker and darker, I fell often, too._

_Finally, I tripped over something-it was black now, I had no idea what caught my foot-and I stayed down. I rolled onto my side, so that I could breathe, and curled up on the wet bracken._

{My story from here on, with Stephenie Meyer's characters}

"_Bella." The word was no more than a whisper in the wind, the leaves rustling in the trees. I squeezed my eyes shut, unwilling to allow anything to enter my mind, other than the words repeating themselves over and over in my head like a mantra. _He's gone. He's gone. He's gone.

_Taunting me; breaking me._

"_Bella."_

_I let an anguished sob escape my lips. He was wrong. I would never forget him, and my heart would never heal from the loss of losing him. I couldn't let him go, I just couldn't._

_But at the same time, I was starting to accept the reality that he had already detached himself. I didn't have a choice._

_I ran his face through my memory. Every curve, every single perfect detail. I could never forget him. I tried to remember the way his breath smelled when I woke up, the scent his jacket always carried, the way his stone arms seemed to fit just perfectly around my body. The feeling I felt every morning when I woke up and realized he had stayed the night, the tingle from my head to my toes when he kissed me, my favourite crooked smile._

_A nagging thought in the back of my mind reminded me of my best friend, and her tinkling laugh and bubbly nature, but right now it wasn't me that was shattered on the ground, broken beyond repair. It was my heart. More specifically, broken and screaming for Edward._

"_Bella."_

"_What?!" I cried. I mentally laughed at myself, a sad, heart-wrenching laugh, at the fact that I was talking to the wind, asking what it wanted when it ran through the trees._

"_You're mine now."_

_I was beyond noticing the dark figure behind me, I just wanted it all to end. Without Edward in my life, I had no life. Edward Anthony Masen Cullen… I needed him._

_At first, when I felt the cold stone grip, I thought he'd come back. Maybe to tell me he was lying and he needed me just as much as I needed him, maybe to lead me back to my bedroom before leaving for good. Or maybe it was Alice, to say she was sorry she couldn't say goodbye earlier, that Edward just wouldn't let her._

_These hopeful dreams spread across my body, sending a little warmth to my fingers and toes that were starting to numb from the cold. But when I was wrenched upward and held against their body, I instantly recognised it wasn't Alice or Edward, nor Carlisle or Emmett or any other Cullen._

"_Miss me?" a sweet voice called, laughter following it._

"_How dare he leave you here, unprotected and alone in the forest," she mocked. "It was almost like he was asking me to take you."_

"_Please," I mumbled._

_She laughed._

_I think she misunderstood me. I wasn't begging for her to leave me alone, to not kill me. No, I was pleading with this monster to take my life away from me, because it had no meaning anymore. He was my fate, destiny, whatever you wanted to call it. He was the reason I existed. Without him, I was nothing._

_I almost found it funny that, when death was knocking upon my door, demanding entry I would allow, I was still thinking about Edward._

"_One little bite," she whispered. With her left hand she wrenched my head back, exposing my neck to the stinging rain drops I hadn't even noticed were falling. I could, however, start to feel the water seep through my clothes. How had I not realized earlier?_

_Her lips danced across a vein in my neck._

_She was right. One little bite was all it took to have my college years and future life taken away from me. One little movement… Did I mind? Of course not! I was going crazy just waiting for the end to come._

_When death did arrive, I barely noticed. I didn't let a single cry escape my mouth as she bit down hard into my neck. With easy gulps, my blood slowly started leaving my body. Was Alice watching this, somewhere? Maybe Edward was with her, in a plane or a taxi. Maybe they were hunting in a forest not far from Forks, watching my death with a glint in their eyes. Maybe they were even laughing at my ironic death._

_My consciousness started to flicker in and out. Edward appeared in front of me; an illusion. I could see the silhouette of the trees through his body. He stared me in the eye as this beast drew the life from me._

_Some people say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes. I was much more content with this. Who wanted to see a re-run anyways? I was happier looking at Edward, knowing that his beautiful golden eyes would be the last I ever saw._

_I felt myself start to fade away as a growl erupted from the trees. A shadow leapt through my imagination of Edward, sending wisps of colour spiraling out in all directions. I couldn't see anything other than white fangs. Vicious snarling ripped the air. I felt my head loll back and my body drop to the muddy ground as Victoria ran away, the beast hot on her tail._

_My eyes tried to follow the path it took, but the leaves all looked the same to me. I was starting to get a headache from the confusion. I stared up at the moon, instead. Yes, much less confusing. The single, white orb hung neatly in the sky. A few more shadows blocked my vision as they jumped over me. Wolves, possibly? I heard a howl further off and knew I was right._

_I started to feel tired. Was I going to be blessed with death after all? I searched for the spot where Edward had stood only moments ago in my mind as I finally closed my eyes._

**I hope you enjoyed it! I really hate to play the bad guy, and it really bugs me when other people do this so I'm so sorry, but I won't be publishing the rest of the story unless I get at least five reviews. So please review, even if it's just to point out a spelling mistake or a smiley face or something. Just so I know that people don't think it's all worthless junk… Which I do, but hopefully someone likes it :P**

**~Pascal xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Hey guys :) Thanks so much for supporting me, and those people who did review are the reason why I'm putting this chapter up.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything besides the (new) character I'm introducing, Liam! Bella remains the property of Stephenie Meyer.**

**Hope you like :P**

_Sixteen years later…_

_I could smell a deer not far away, and a mountain lion a bit farther. I froze in the trees nearby, hunched behind a withering pine. The poor creature felt no fear as it continued to munch on grass. Its herd wasn't far away. It hadn't strayed too far; it thought it would be safe this close to its family._

_I didn't extend its death, aiming for the neck as I lunged. My sharp teeth easily tore through the skin in its neck and ending its life quickly. After sixteen years of practice, I made sure my prey didn't feel any unnecessary pain. Its death was never prolonged or enjoyed. It barely had time to recognise it was being attacked before I stopped its heart, ceasing its senses._

_I greedily drank the blood from the animal before leaving the carcass. I swiftly buried a hole without getting a single speck of dirt or mud on my jeans and jacket. I gently rolled the limp body in and refilled the hole, making sure to leave no evidence._

_I spun on my heel, all nose and ears as I tried to find where my mountain lion had gone. I heard a rustle in the trees. The creature causing the noise was large enough to be another animal, but it had no heartbeat, or pulse, or blood racing through its veins._

_Another vampire?_

_In all my years, I had never come across another vampire. Edward was the last one I ever saw. I was half right, that night in the woods, when I thought I was blessed with death. My heart had stopped, but I lived on, too afraid to go to the Volturi or find another vampire to finish what Victoria had started. I hadn't seen the Cullen's once, never straying far from the forest. I didn't have a place to call home, or someone to tell my deepest secrets or call friend._

_I was alone. I had nothing. I was nothing._

_I tilted my head as the being moved again. If this was a vampire, maybe I didn't have to be alone anymore. I sniffed the air. This 'vampire' smelt of salty air and burning wood, like a bonfire. Not an unpleasant scent. I had been told by Edward on numerous occasions that I smelt of freesias and strawberries, but I had no one to tell me for sure._

_If I was to communicate with this person, I needed to act now, before they could escape._

_I was fast, and the vampire was confused. Barely older than a newborn, if I was correct. His hair was black, similar to a quiff, if I was not mistaken. He wore a white shirt with a checkered shirt on top, filled with holes and covered in mud and dirt. His jeans matched the state of his upper clothes. I noted that he was barefoot._

"_Hello," I called. He was too stunned to move._

"_Don't be afraid," I said calmly. "I'm like you. My name is Bella."_

"_Liam," he whispered._

_His blood red eyes bored into mine. I knew how difficult it was, back in the early days. It was still difficult for me. I stayed on the outskirts of human civilization, praying that a bleeding or wounded human wouldn't come near me. My will was strong-I was determine to not be the monster I thought I was-but I wasn't sure if I could hold up in the presence of blood like that. My throat still burnt and the beast inside me still screamed for blood and pain and death. I never listened._

"_Why are your eyes different?" he asked. "They're… gold."_

"_Yes," I answered softly. "I don't drink human blood."_

"_Impossible!" Liam scoffed._

_I shook my head slowly. "It's really not. If you try."_

"_Then how do you survive?" he asked, incredulous. "Our kind… We need humans to survive. How do you do it?"_

_I held my hand out. "I can show you," I offered._

_He shied away. "Do not be afraid." I looked at him. "You're alone, aren't you?"_

_He nodded slowly. "No one left in the world… forever doomed to wander by yourself."_

"_How do you know this?"_

"_Because I'm like you," I breathed. "I was once in love, but he left me, and another vampire changed me. I didn't want to be this way. You didn't either, did you?"_

"_No, I was attacked…" he started. "A giant wolf, the size of a bear, killed my attacker."_

_I took a deep breath. A giant wolf the size of a bear? It sounded like my rescuer._

_I motioned to my hand again. "I can help you. It doesn't have to be this way. You don't have to be a murderer. You can be like me."_

"_How?"_

"_By drinking the blood from animals," I explain. "It's really not that hard, if you try."_

"_Impossible," he repeated, but his will was weaker._

"_Trust me," I said softly._

_He took my hand._

**Sorry again, but five reviews in exchange for another chapter, just so I know that someone out there is actually mental enough to want to continue. Hope you liked my first whole chapter written by me alone, with no help from Stephenie Meyer :/ Please tell me I'm not terrible aha :) xx**

**~Pascal**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Thanks again, guys. You're the best!**

**Disclaimer: Liam and Sophie are the product of my crazy imagination, but Bella and other characters that might be mentioned are all Stephenie Meyer's**

"_Do you want the grizzly or the mountain lion?" Liam asked as we ran past trees. We were in Alaska now, and Liam had been on the same 'diet' as I had for the past two years. Two years since we met._

"_Grizzly," I laughed. "Haven't tasted one of them in ages."_

"_I'll have the mountain lion," he grinned._

"_You know, I was about to have a mountain lion before I realized you were in the same forest for me," I said, starting to whisper as we slowed down. "But then I concentrated on befriending you and it left."_

"_My apologies," he chuckled. "Ready?"_

"_Now!"_

_We raced from our hiding spot, jumping on our unsuspecting prey. A quick bite to the throat, a snap of the neck and it was dead. No reason for pain, so why extend the animal's torture?_

_It didn't take long before both the animals were dead. Liam laughed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He was wearing different clothes to when I found him. So was I. I'd started working part time in a café, trusting myself to not attack humans. It was getting easier, my resolve becoming stronger the longer I went. I hadn't tasted human blood for the past eighteen years, which probably made it easier._

"_We need to dig a hole," I said. "Bury the evidence. Humans can't know what goes on in these woods."_

"_Sure thing, sis," he joked, picking the perfect spot to start digging._

_Just as his fingertips touched the ground, a scream curdled the air and a scent like no other hit us. I barely had time to constrain myself before looking at Liam._

_His mouth was hard, eyes turning feral. "Liam!" I cried. He turned to me, hands clenched together. He was surprisingly strong for someone so young to this world. I grabbed him by the shoulders. "Remember who you are," I reminded him. "You aren't this monster. You're not a murderer, or a killer. You're Liam. Please!"_

_He held his breath, but the other side of him was starting to show. "Run," I commanded. He did. His legs took off, arms pumping, in the direction away from the bleeding human. I turned to where the scream came from, easily pinpointing exactly where I needed to go._

_I had to save this human._

_She was a young girl with a bullet through her heart. Her hair was long and blonde, curls matted in blond. Her shaky hands pressed desperately against the wound, though her attempts were futile. Her heart was already failing her, and her panicked eyes showed fear at the prospect of death._

_I hesitated, the blood barely even tempting me. She looked about seventeen or eighteen, the prime time in her life. She couldn't have it taken away now! She was still so young, still had so much to do and see… She was like me, I realized, although I doubt her vampire boyfriend had broken her heart. She was obviously still fighting for her life, even though living was impossible._

_I knelt down beside her. I couldn't let her die. I stroked her head and she looked up at me. "Hey," I whispered, choking slightly. "It's okay. I'm here. You're not alone."_

"_I'm dying," she sobbed._

"_Shh, don't say that," I said softly._

"_I don't want to die," she cried out. "Please, help me."_

_I bit my lip, looking down at this fragile human. I had never tasted human blood, so I didn't know how strong the temptation would be. Would I accidentally lose control? But then again, it would be faster than dying from a bullet, right? But I had no experience, and to let her go through pain like that. I still remembered my own three days, begging myself to remain quiet. Charlie would have set out a search party, and I couldn't let him see my like this. It was almost impossible, but I somehow managed._

_Before I knew what I was doing, I leaned down and bit down on her neck. The blood gushed into my mouth. It was delicious! More beautiful than anything I'd ever tasted, much better than the blood that had been in the dead grizzly back there. Just a little bit more… a little bit more…_

_Carlisle's disappointed face appeared in my mind's eye. I knew it shouldn't have done much; where was he when I was dying? Where was any of his family? Having a good time, joking around on a plane, already forgetting about that little human girl in Forks? But I still couldn't imagine straying from his path and embracing the monster I was. I couldn't do that._

_It took all my will power, but I managed to turn away. I gasped as the blood left my mouth and I shuddered, running and pressing up against the nearest tree. I had almost killed that girl!_

_The girl!_

_She was screaming, her body shaking as if she were having a seizure. With the maximum extent of my control, I slowly walked to her, easily picking up her fragile body. I held my breath and took off running. Where was I going? I wasn't sure. But I needed to get this girl safe. If Liam caught her scent again…_

_I found refuge in a cave in a short mountain, high enough that human mountain climbers wouldn't be a problem. I rested her on the ground and paced the floor for three days, praying that Liam would have enough sense to realize what I had done and stayed further in the forest._

_On the morning of the third day, when the sun was almost half-way across the sky, the screams stopped and the girl opened her eyes. I sat up at the same time she did. She shied away from me, scrambling across the floor of the cave._

"_It's okay," I comforted. How had Carlisle presented this speech to Edward, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett? Maybe it got easier with practice, or it was Carlisle's soothing presence that made it easier for the newborn to comprehend what he was saying._

"_I saved you," I explained, "from the bullet."_

"_What am I?" she cried out, looking at her cold, hard hands._

"_I know this is going to seem strange, or crazy, but… you're a vampire," I breathed out. She looked at me in shock. "I know, I know… it does sound crazy. But it's true. You need to be careful of your strength, you could crush a human if you're not careful, and your speed will be amazing, and you can't sleep, or eat…"_

"_Blood," she gasped._

"_Oh, you're thirsty!" I gasped, catching on. "Come with me, we'll go hunt."_

"_No." She shook her head, beautiful curls bouncing delicately. "I don't… I'm not a monster. I won't kill!"_

"_You misunderstand," I laughed lightly. "I didn't want to be a killer either. That's why I chose the other path. The harder path, but certainly the most rewarding. I don't kill humans, I drink the blood of animals. Bears, deers, mountain lions… Please tell me you're not an animal rights activist."_

"_No, it's just… is that really what you do? Have you never tasted human blood?"_

"_Yours was the first," I admitted. "It was incredibly hard to stop, but I did it. Your blood was the first human blood I'd tasted in eighteen years. Trust me, it will be almost impossible to defy human blood, but it can be done. I'm proof of that, aren't I? My brother, Liam-"_

"_There are more of us?" she gasped._

"_Yes," I replied. "You're taking this very well, I must say. There are lots of us. I know of two… clans, I guess, that drink from animal blood as well, but I have no idea how to get into contact with them. Most vampires give into their temptations and hunt purely on humans. They aren't strong. Liam used to be like that, but he's changed."_

"_Is it still hard for you?" she whispered._

"_A little," I responded softly. "But the other vampires I know… one is over a hundred and still finds it hard. Eighteen is a particularly young age to defy human blood. I think it might be part of my gift."_

"_Gift?"_

"_Yes, some vampires have them, though not all," I explained. "I can block out my mind from other gifts that require the mind for their gift."_

"_Like telepathy?" she asked._

"_Yes," I winced. "I knew of a vampire was psychic, and another that was an empath, and, like you said, a mind reader."_

"_Will I have a gift?" she asked eagerly._

_I laughed. "We won't know for at least a few days. Some vampires, like me, just find it easier to defy human blood. Others are just particularly strong or fast, even for a vampire._

"_Now, let's go hunt."_

**Five reviews for a chapter? Pretty please?**

**~Pascal xx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Okay, I know it's short and (once again) in italics, so it's probably time I explained that this is all a flashback from Bella, and after this there's two more flashbacks before the real (non-italiced) story begin.**

**By the way, is non-italiced a word? Well, it is now aha :) xx**

**Disclaimer: Everything is Stephenie Meyers, aside from Liam and Sophie and half of this girl (it's crazy, I know. Just wait for my disclaimer in chapter 5! That should be fun to write…)**

_Love at first sight. That's what it was between Liam and Sophie. They flirted for a while, started going out and, then, two years later, he proposed. I'd been saving money for a while by then, enough to buy us a simple cabin house out in the woods in remote east Canada, where I taught Liam and Sophie to ignore the tempting call of human blood._

_The wedding was simple, myself being the only guest, but it was a happy one, filled with lots of white and flowers. Over the next five years I started working at a hospital, remembering when Carlisle told me practice was the key to becoming the way he was. I, with the help of Liam, received forged documents to go to a high-standard college, studying medicine for four and a half years before signing up as a doctor at a hospital near our home, giving Liam and Sophie some alone time._

_I loved my brother and sister dearly, but too often I felt like the third wheel. That's why I spent most of my time at the hospital._

_That's also where I met another young girl, dying from a car crash._

"_Dr. Swan!" a RN called. "Dr. Swan!" _

_I spun on my heels, turning to face the frazzled lady, hair tucked up in a hair net with specks of blood on her gloves. "I just finished up in the emergency room with a victim of the car crash." I winced. Not far from here, on a populated highway, there had been a series of incidents leaving many drivers and passengers injured, or dead._

"_Dr. Worth is in the middle of an operation and everyone else is busy," she continued quickly. "There's a girl. Her family was in the car with her. She's the only survivor, but I'm afraid it won't last that way for long. You need to help her!"_

_I nodded curtly. "Find a few nurses in clean scrubs and send them to the room," I ordered._

"_I'll show you where she is." The RN led me down a few white, sterile corridors, to a door at the end. I pushed it open, praying to be silent and not scare this poor girl as the nurse scuttled off to find the nurses I had requested._

_She was pretty, for a human. Her hair reached to her waist, lying dead straight and the colour of milk chocolate. A severe head wound bled profusely, and many of her bones lied at an awkward angle._

_I knew that the hope the RN had held for this girl was already gone, destroyed the minute of the impact. There was no way that this girl would survive, no matter how many operations and stitches we gave her. Her body was practically broken, and for a fleeting moment I was reminded of Carlisle describing the moments before Esme's transformation._

_I walked over to the girl, the sound proof walls blocking out the sound of screams and loud chatter. I picked up her fragile hand, coated in dried blood and scratches. Would I possibly be able to save her, to allow her to continue her life? Or was there too much blood, too much of a chance that I was too late, or make a mistake and cause her unimaginable pain before death?_

_Her eyelids fluttered open. "Help… me…" she whispered. Her voice sounded like scratchy, like sand paper running over uneven wood._

_Those two words were all it took. My mind was set, my stomach twisting into knots for the feat I was about to attempt. I was in full vampire mode now. In a flash I was by the door, locking it and pulling covers over the blurred glass, doing the same for the floor to ceiling windows lining the same wall._

_The single window only needed one kick before the glass shattered, spilling out onto the street below. A quick check told me the alleyway was empty. I delicately picked up the human, careful to not jostle her around too much. Where would I change her? I had my phone with me; I could call Sophie and Liam and explain the situation, hiding out in the woods and explaining how to hunt animals for a couple of days before returning home with the newest addition to our family._

_I jumped from the fifth story, feeling like Spiderman for a second. Then my feet hit the ground and I took off running._

_I stuck to the outskirts of town, staying in shadows and unused roads to avoid attention. I knew of a safe place, far away from any humans hearing this girl's transformation, close enough to our cabin in the woods. It wouldn't take long for me to reach it, a few minutes at most._

_I was running before I realized, and I was right-in barely any time I was hiding the broken girl behind a boulder and pulling vines and ferns across the small entrance. I turned to my future sister. Her eyes were wide with fear, but she was too paralysed to move._

"_I'm so sorry," I whispered._

_Tears filled her eyes as she comprehended my words. Or at least, part of the hidden truth. She thought I was going to kill her, here in the woods. Hide her body in a lake, maybe, or in a hole. She thought I was being kind enough to end her pain._

_Alas, I was only starting it._

**Again, I apologise for the tiny length. Please like it anyway! Five reviews for another chapter? I don't care who reviews, as long as I get five reviews! PLEASE!**

**~Pascal xx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Disclaimer: Okay, everything is Stephenie Meyer's aside from Liam, Sophie, the character Renesme and the newest addition to the Swan family. But the name 'Renesme'/ 'Nessie' is Stephenie Meyer's, but the character isn't. If you know what I mean.**

**Okay, just assume that I created the character, and then took a name from Stephenie Meyer's book 'Breaking Dawn'. That better?**

**Please say it is.**

**Anyways, hope you like :D One more chapter after this till I've caught you guys up with Bella Swan's present/future… You know what I mean.**

"_How much longer?" Renesme complained. Although, we all referred to her as Nessie. At first, Liam was a bit angry at me changing another human, upset that we had to move to a rainy town in New York because of me. He got over it, though. Everyone loved Nessie._

_When she awoke, she wasn't even thirsty, something that surprised me. From what Edward and Carlisle had shared with me, it sounded like every newborn thirsted to blood, and I was the only slight exception to that rule. But no, not Renesme. She was unusual in more ways than one. With a single touch, she could share images with someone. This allowed us to communicate silently, now, because if Renesme pictured a scenario in her mind, she could tell us something without anyone knowing, or show us what to do if we were in a tricky situation._

_Nessie didn't know anything about herself, either. She had no name, age, date of birth, family, or anything else she could connect to. Maybe that was what made explaining her new lifestyle so easy for me. Much easier than Sophie, anyway. She had asked me to choose a name for her, saying that she trusted me with her life. I hadn't lost control, I had saved her, and she said I had an aura about me, something that made her feel like she should stay near me._

_I found her quite special myself, and I knew a common name wouldn't do. She was one of a kind, and needed a name that fit her personality. I played around with names, mainly featuring Alice, Esme, Renee, Marie… connections to my human life, and came up with Renesme. For Edward's loving mother as well as my own. We found it a mouthful, calling her Nessie for short._

_Life had been good to us, over the past fifteen years. I didn't feel as much of a third wheel, with Nessie around. We shared everything, and she was the only one that knew about the Cullen's and Victoria and my tragic birthday party and Edward… every single detail. I couldn't keep anything from Renesme._

_In return, she shared images of her last few moments, along with feelings and thoughts attached to them. We were often inseparable, content to lie in the woods and talk for hours at a time, leaving Liam and Sophie to their own business._

_Sophie had slipped up a few times after her change. She left, angry at Renesme for some minor argument that made no sense to Liam or I. But she ran away. Liam wanted to chase after her, but I told him not to, saying she just needed time alone._

_Time alone was exactly what she didn't need, because she came home four hours later, sobbing and hands covered in blood. She had gone crazy when she saw a few men bashing up a girl in an alley beside a pub. She was a modest girl, probably just passing through a bad part of town. She lashed out, killing them. The blood was strong, and she ended up drinking their blood, scaring the poor girl so much that she froze in spot._

_Sophie was instantly ashamed at herself, and she ran back to us as fast as we could. We moved yet again, removing all evidence of our lives from London._

_We were currently residing in France, in a small, rainy town on the north coast. We had a lonely house in the middle of nowhere, and so far, nobody had disturbed us, apart from a few wild animals._

"_Bella?" Nessie asked nervously, knocking on my bedroom door. I looked up from my ancient copy of Harry Potter, a novel written when I was human and had never ceased to hold my attention._

"_Yes, Renesme?" I answered._

_She slowly walked into my room, not at all annoyed by the use of her full name. She never was, really, just the way a certain big brother sometimes said it._

"_What's wrong?" I put my copy down, tucking a bookmark between the pages and letting it fall from my lap. I swung my legs over my window seat so that I was facing her, gently patting the spot beside me as I invited her to sit down._

"_I just… it's probably nothing…" She gave a shaky laugh, avoiding my eyes._

"_Renesme?"_

"_I just have a bad feeling, that's all," she sighed. "Like something's going to happen."_

"_What do you mean, 'something'?" I inquired. "Good or bad?"_

"_Honestly, I have no idea," she admitted. "I just feel it. You know that feeling you get, before it rains? It's like that. You just know it's coming, but you don't know when. Or, in this case, what."_

"_Should we be worried?" I started thinking about my family's protection. I had to think about others now, not like when I was alone. I had people to worry about. Liam hadn't tasted human blood since before I'd introduced him to my current diet, and Sophie had only lost control that one time in the alley. As for Nessie and I, we never found a particularly strong desire for human blood, Nessie more than myself. We were able to stay in control, remain who we were._

"_I'm not sure," she frowned. "I can't tell if it's visitors passing through, or a human suspecting something… It could be anything."_

"_I'm going to go search the woods," I said, taking the figure of authority, as I often did. "I want you to stay here with Liam and Sophie."_

"_But-"_

"_Renesme Alice Swan!" I snapped. I sighed. "I'm sorry. I just don't want anything to happen to you. So please, stay here. For me?"_

"_Fine," she grumbled._

_I messed up her hair. "Thanks. I'll be back before you know it. Just a quick scan for a strange scent."_

"_You would be safer if you weren't alone," she sung, dancing out of the room. I laughed, embracing my vampire speed as I fled from the house, running past trees and fallen logs._

_I had been in the forest for about an hour when I heard it. "Bella!"_

_The single word wasn't unfamiliar, or threatening. In fact, it sounded like-_

"_Nessie?" I cried._

"_Bella, over here," she called. "I need help!"_

_I relied fully on my sense of hearing and smell as I tracked her down. There was another scent, mingling with hers. Human blood?_

"_Bella," she sobbed, seeing me as a I appeared in the clearing. "I tried… it was too late for him. I'm sorry!"_

_I knelt down beside my little sister, to where a human boy was lying on the ground, withering in pain. He thrashed around, teeth ground together in a desperate attempt to stay quiet. "What happened?" I whispered. I could see the puncture wounds in his neck._

"_I don't know!" she breathed. "I just found him here. He wasn't wounded, at least not physically. He just collapsed, and his heart started failing. I panicked and I bit him. I'm sorry!"_

"_You did the right thing," I comforted. "Hey, I'm sure Liam wanted a brother sooner or later."_

"_You're not mad?" she sniffled._

"_How can I be?" I laughed. "My little sister put herself into a position where she might lose control, just to save someone. Of course I'm not mad!"_

"_Good," she smiled. "You were right, though. Human blood _is _more satisfying than animal blood. But I don't think I'm in danger of losing control around humans, though. I think it's part of my gift."_

"_Mine too, little sis," I grinned, tugging her into a hug. "Although you're much stronger than me."_

"_Me?" she gasped. "Stronger than_ you?_ I don't think so."_

_I laughed. "Well, I do. Now, let's take him back and explain to Liam and Soph, hey?"_

"_Okay," she agreed, lifting him into her arms. I knew she felt guilty about leaving the house when I ordered her not to, and biting the human in a moment of panic, but I was proud of her._

**I don't think I really have to say it anymore, but not another word from me until five reviews. Please? But then again, not another word from me might not be such a bad thing… ;)**

**~Pascal xx**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Whoo! Thanks so much for getting me this far :) Okay, last flashback and then we're up to the very-present-very-non-italiced future. I don't know about you guys, but I hate italics in large portions for some reason :/**

**Hope you like the new mate I found for a very special someone ;)**

**Disclaimer: Everything is Stephenie Meyer's aside from the stuff that isn't. And the stuff that isn't is mine. Okay.**

"_William James Swan," Renesme yelled angrily, "give me back my movie _right this minute!"

_Liam and Sophie laughed as she chased her brother around the house. For a human, Nessie was a particularly short sixteen year old girl, and Will was a particularly muscular seventeen year old boy, making the show that much more entertaining._

"_Where's the popcorn?" I joked, coming to stand beside my sister, resting one arm on the doorway. The door slammed downstairs, and I heard her chase him into the woods. We were back in Canada now, in a place too cold for most humans to handle._

_I'd continued my job as a doctor, going back to medical school every decade or so to catch up on any new medical theories that would help in the emergency room. I had been a vampire for seventy years now, making me eighty-eight._

_Only Nessie knew, but there was one week until I was eighty-nine. One week until the anniversary of the date that Edward left me in the forest to die. I think that's why she was making such a big deal of joking around with everyone. Nessie was the clown of the family, never ceasing to make us all smile and laugh at her familiar antics._

_Sophie scrunched up her nose. "I never liked popcorn," she said. "Too much butter, or salt… And the taste got boring after a while."_

"_Are you kidding?" Liam laughed. "Popcorn's probably the best thing ever invented."_

"_What about you, Bella?" Sophie asked. "Did you like popcorn?"_

"_I… I don't remember," I frowned. Sophie shrugged, trying to shake it off. Everyone knew I got touchy this time of year, although only my closest little sister knew why._

_Liam grabbed Sophie's hand and pulled her toward the staircase, taking her to turn on the TV now that Nessie wasn't using it._

_I knew it was silly, and I knew it shouldn't have bugged me, but it did. Did I like popcorn? Did I hate it? Did I ever curl up on the couch with Renee and have a girl night, pigging out on popcorn and chocolate as we watched sappy love stories?_

_The fact that I couldn't remember those little details nagged at my mind. I felt sad, and alone, for the first time since I'd met Liam. Of course, there was always that part of me that was missing. The little turn in my smile when someone said a joke, the emptiness behind my eyes whenever I heard _Clair de Lune_ or saw the nineteen-sixties version of _Romeo & Juliet_. I wish I'd had more memories of my human life. Those times with Edward and Alice were still clearly imprinted in my memory, but the laughs I'd shared with Charlie, or Renee and Phil, the ones slowly fading away to dust… Those were the memories leaving me, the ones that I was trying to hold onto._

"_Have any of you seen Nessie or Will?" I asked, coming downstairs. They'd officially been gone for an hour now, and I was starting to panic._

_Sophie and Liam shook their heads from where they were holding each other on the couch. My frozen heart sunk when I remembered curling up with Edward on the couch before my tragic birthday party. The last happy memory I had of him._

Edward sprawled across the couch while I started the movie, fast-forwarding through the opening credits. When I perched on the edge of the sofa in front of him, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against his chest. It wasn't exactly as comfortable as a sofa cushion would be, what with his chest being hard and cold-and perfect-as an ice sculpture, but it was definitely preferable. He pulled the old afghan off the back of the couch and draped it over me so I wouldn't freeze beside his body.

"You know, I've never had much patience with Romeo," he commented as the movie started.

"What's wrong with Romeo?" I asked, a little offended. Romeo was one of my favourite fictional characters. Until I'd met Edward, I'd sort of had a thing for him.

"Well, first of all, he's in love with this Rosaline-don't you think it makes him seem a little fickle? And then, a few minutes after their wedding, he kills Juliet's cousin. That's not very brilliant. Mistake after mistake. Could he have destroyed his own happiness any more thoroughly?"

I sighed. "Do you want me to watch this alone?"

"No, I'll mostly be watching you, anyway." His fingers traced patterns across the skin of my arm, raising goose bumps. "Will you cry?"

"Probably," I admitted, "if I'm paying attention."

"I won't distract you then." But I felt his cool lips on my hair, and it was very distracting.

The movie eventually captured my interest, thanks in large part to Edward whispering Romeo's lines in my ear, his irresistible, velvet voice made the actor's sound weak and coarse by comparison. And I did cry, to his amusement, when Juliet woke and found her new husband dead.

"_I'm sure they're fine," Sophie sighed. "William probably threw it into a tree or something."_

"_Hate to be the one facing little Nessie, then," Liam chuckled. "For such a tiny thing, she has a hard punch."_

"_You don't want to piss her off," Soph agreed._

"_I'm worried," I admitted. "They're never gone this long without telling us first."_

"_Bell, when do they _ever _go anywhere together?" Liam pointed out._

"_I guess…" I trailed off. "Maybe I should run to the forest, make sure they're okay."_

"_What could have gone wrong?" Liam rolled his eyes. "A grizzly bear attacked them? They can protect themselves from anything out there. Don't fret."_

"_You're right," I sighed. "I'm just overreacting."_

"_Come watch this show with us," Soph called, patting the spot beside her and Liam._

"_Friends?" I asked. "I used to love this show! Oh, I haven't seen Jennifer Anniston in ages!"_

"_I loved this show, too!" Sophie squealed. "When I was fourteen or something, I had this crush on Ross."_

"_Really?" I laughed. "I liked Joey. He always made me laugh."_

"_Aren't Monica and Chandler so cute together," Liam sighed. Sophie and I turned to look at him. "What? A guy can watch this show too, you know." We both laughed at his defensive expression._

_A classical sound played from the kitchen. "Ugh, stop that torture!" Sophie joked. "Classical music never really got my attention."_

"_Hey, leave Bella alone," Liam said in mock seriousness. "She's ancient, remember?"_

"_When I was a teen, Lady Gaga and 50 Cent were popular, not Mozart," I laughed, standing up and heading to the kitchen._

_According to caller ID, Nessie was ringing. "Hey, where are you?" I said immediately, answering the call._

"_Bella," she breathed. "This girl, she was dying. A bear attacked her. Will… Bella, Will saved her! It was too late, but he bit her and changed her. She's going through the transformation now. She's very quiet."_

"_What?" I snapped, not angrily. "Will changed her? How did he not lose control?"_

_Liam and Sophie appeared in the doorway, a worried expression on their face._

"_I don't know," Nessie breathed. "But he managed to stop himself. I'm staying out here with her and Will. You stay with Liam and Sophie."_

"_Are you sure you don't want me to explain to her?" I offered._

"_Umm, actually… I think Will wants to." I could almost feel the grin radiating through the phone. "You know love at first sight? Yeah, I think he's experiencing that right now."_

"_Shut up," I heard from the background._

"_Hey, you chucked my copy of _ Mean Girls _into the lake, I can say whatever I want!" she snapped. "Anyways, I gotta go. When she wakes up Will's taking her hunting and I'll head home. Leave those two alone, you know?"_

"_Okay," I said hesitantly. "See you soon?"_

"_Definitely." She hung up first, and I followed, gently setting the phone down on the counter and turning to Sophie and Liam._

"_Nessie and Will found a girl," I started slowly, "dying from a bear attack. William changed her somehow. Nessie thinks… she thinks he's in love. She'll be home in three days, and Will's taking this girl hunting."_

"_That's so cute!" Soph squealed._

"_One thing," I added as they turned away. "How do you feel about Ireland this time of year?"_

**Yay, hope you liked the last flashback :) We're up to the present now, so yeah hope you enjoy!**

**~Pascal xx**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Okay, so now everyone is caught up with Bella's past, it's time to bring you back up to her present :) Hope you enjoy my first part of writing in non-italics, and I really, really, really hope someone actually likes it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of this, it belongs to Stephenie Meyer, although the characters Liam, Sophie, Will and Juliette are the product of my imagination, and I came up with the character Renesme, although not the name. Okay :P**

"Okay, I've filled mine, Bella's, Sophie's and Juliette's handbags with pens, bobbypins, money… everything a student should have," Nessie said officially. "I've crammed the boys' stuff into Lonsdale backpacks, and there are binders in the car for the girls' books. I took the liberty of printing off our timetables emailed to Bella from the school and taping them inside all our books. I-"

"Slow down," I laughed, turning the corner into the living room. Nessie was standing there, checking things off on her fingers. It was our first time at a new school in a while, and she was taking this very seriously, wearing red skinny jeans, a white and blue striped t-shirt, navy Toms and a blue letterman jacket slung over her shoulder. Her hair was neatly brushed out with a red bow clip-in.

"It's okay," I soothed. "We'll be fine. It's just highschool."

"I know," she breathed. "I just want it to turn out good. Wait, is _that _what you're wearing?"

I looked down at my outfit as Nessie started circling me. I didn't see anything wrong with it. Skinny jeans, black boots and a red button up coat over a black turtleneck.

"What's wrong with my outfit?" I said defensively. I was the only Swan girl who wasn't crazy for clothes.

"Hmm…" she tapped her chin. "I like it," she finally decided. "Simple. It'll help blend us in. Good job, Bella."

"Thank you," I laughed. "I was waiting for you approval."

She opened her mouth to say something when Sophie entered the room. As usual, her blonde curls were lying perfectly, looking like she'd just stopped using a curling iron. "Miss Renesme," she fake curtsied, "do you deem what I am wearing to be appropriate attire?"

Nessie took her very seriously, staring at her silver fur lined jacket and looking up and down at her jeans and black ballet flats. She nodded once. "What's under your jacket?"

Sophie giggled, unzipping the jacket. Nessie looked disapprovingly at the black long sleeve shirt, bearing a deep V-neck. "Keep the jacket on," she recommended.

Sophie and I laughed. "Will, Liam!" she called loudly. "The majority of the _girls _are finished, shouldn't you be too?"

My two brothers bounded down the stairs, pushing and shoving as they did. As usual, they had jeans on with a button up long sleeve, Liam's pale blue and Will's a deep red. Their black blazers were hanging from the hands as they rammed into the walls.

"Stop it!" Nessie ordered fiercely. The two boys froze, turning to look at their little sister in surprise. "Juliette, we're waiting for you!"

"Coming," she called softly. Of course, everyone could hear it. Nessie flipped her hair onto her shoulder, running through the perfectly straight, long strands as Juliette skipped down the stairs, pulling a white glove on as she did.

"Nice jumper," Liam laughed. Juliette smoothed down the red woolen jumper with white snowflakes on it in rows above straight lines. It was quite ugly, actually, but Juliette made it look like it belonged on a Gucci runway.

"I like it," she frowned, tucking her other hand into another glove. Her nails were red, I noticed.

"Nice boots," Nessie approved. Juliette tapped her toes together in her brown leather boots. She, like Sophie and I, was wearing denim skinny jeans.

Juliette was gorgeous, even for a vampire, with reddish-brown hair and a perfect, angelic face.

"Everyone ready to go?" Nessie announced. "Okay, I've put everything in Will's Audi Coupe-"

I drew in a sharp breath at the car name. That was the model Edward had wanted to buy me for my birthday. Liam, however, started up a protest.

"How the hell are we all supposed to fit in that thing?" he raged. "You see, my-"

"We're not taking your car," Nessie snapped. He lifted his arms in surrender. "Now, is everyone ready? Great. Follow me."

Half a minute later, after a bit of struggling and arguments over who was sitting where, we were pretty much comfortably seated in Will's car. Juliette had insisted on driving, and I had called shot-gun, much to Will's anger. He argued that he should get to sit by his wife, but I ignored him, climbing into the passenger side while Juliette giggled.

William squashed himself onto the right side of the car, behind me, next to Sophie, who was cuddling up against Liam. Nessie had seated herself on the car floor, flipping through a Disney magazine.

"Nessie, you are aware that that was printed for six year olds, right?" Liam said. "It even has a Lilo & Stitch colouring page."

"Which I have already completed," she grinned. "Sorry about using your paints, Juliette."

"You used my… never mind," she muttered.

"That copy was issued in 2007, Ness," Sophie pointed out. "That was Bella's time."

"A fabulous year," I grinned. And it was. Up until September, that is. But I got to watch a Cullen game of baseball, go to prom with my one true love and spend the entire summer break with him and his sister, my best friend. It was perfect.

I looked out at the trees as the back portion of the car continued their discussion on Mickey Mouse.

"You okay?" Juliette asked. She already knew the answer – of course I wasn't! Next to Nessie, Juliette knew most of my human life. Liam had asked about moving to Washington State, and Nessie had stood beside me the whole time, arguing that we should move to Maine instead. Juliette had caught on, too, but I told them it was fine. I needed to move on sooner or later, right?

We were about four hours away from Forks, my favourite town, in a place called Gig Harbour. Unfortunately, Gig Harbour decided to hold some heartbreaking memories for me, like resting on Pugent Sound, being within a reasonable distant of Seattle and covering the large majority of its land with pine trees.

I was silent for the rest of the trip. Even Nessie stopped talking mid-sentence about whether Hannah Montana or Hannah Montana Forever was a better show when we pulled up in the car park, taking a spot in the front of the school and cutting off a rusty old truck, reminding me of my own. I had left it sitting in Charlie's driveway before Edward had taken me for a 'walk'. I wonder what he had done with it. Sold it? Taken it to the tip? Given to some teenager without a set of wheels?

"The office is this way," Nessie announced, pulling her arms through her jacket and flipping her hair out. The air, according to the humans, was cold, and I could feel the moisture it held. Dark, ominous clouds gathered ahead, and there was a slight breeze in the air, sending many scents our way at once. Juliette bit her lip and held her breath, while Will wrapped a comforting arm around her.

We followed our anxious sister to a reception desk, where a middle aged woman was sitting, tapping away at a keyboard, her bouncy orange hair in a bob just above her shoulders. She looked up from underneath her half-moon glasses when we walked up.

"Can I help you?" she asked. Thankfully, she didn't seem fazed by our appearances. _I would know for certain if we had a particular mind-reader here, _my brain taunted. I shoved the thought away.

"Hi, we're the Swan's," I introduced. "My name is Bella. I believe you were expecting us?"

She sighed impatiently, bending down and pulling out six manila folders. "Yes, Isabella, Juliette, Liam, Renesme, Sophie and William. My co-worker sent you your timetables and locker combinations?"

"Yes," Nessie chirped. "Thank you."

"Locker combinations?" Will muttered under his breath to Liam, who shrugged.

"It's written in permanent marker inside your bag," Nessie whispered. "For us girls it's on our binders."

I shook my head in wonder at my sister's antics.

"The bell's going to ring in five minutes," she droned. "Hurry up."

She practically threw our stuff at me, shooing us out of the office quickly before the cold air could come in.

"Friendly service," Will commented when we were outside. Juliette laughed.

"Okay, first period Will and Liam have science, Bella, Juliette, Sophie and I have English. Second period, Will, Liam and Juliette have health, Sophie has drama and Bella and I have biology. Third period Will and Sophie have gym, Liam, Bella and I have maths and Juliette has history. Fourth period we all have a free period, except for Will, who has math. And fifth we have music, except for Will and Juliette, who have French. Any questions? No? Good. Let's go."

"For such a tiny thing, she sure has a good memory," Will joked under his breath to Liam.

"I happen to have the same memory as you, smarty-pants," she said, flipping her hair. "Hey, do you smell that?"

"That guy's garlic breath?" Sophie answered, making a gagging face.

"No, that scent… Vampires?" Nessie wondered aloud.

"I'll put up a shield," I said quickly. A short amount of concentration was supplied before everyone in our family was protected by my mental shield. I was quiet proud of my gift sometimes.

"You know that's only helpful if they can mind read?" Liam asked.

Sophie elbowed him in the ribs. "I think it's lovely. Thank you, Bells."

I nodded, biting my lip. The bell rang, and Nessie dragged Juliette, Sophie and I to English.

"I really do hope everyone brang their copy of _Wuthering Heights_," the teacher, a lady in her late sixties with a pink cardigan and grey hair pulled into a tight bun, was saying when we entered. She looked pointedly at a guy in the front.

"Yeah, I would have packed it," he droned on lazily, kicking his feet onto the desk, "but I was really busy."

"Busy, Mr. Heimer?" the teacher asked, slamming her book down onto the desk. "And what, may I ask, were you doing?"

"Flossing," he grinned. His eyes turned to where I was standing with my sisters. His eyes roamed up and down Sophie's body before turning his attention to each of us, reserving me for last.

"And who are you?" he asked me, smirking.

"Way too good for _you,_" Nessie smiled, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the room. "Hi, we're the Swan family."

"New girls!" someone cat called from the back. Soph set her steel glare on him and he grew silent instantly.

"Ah, yes," she said, peering over the top of her glasses to get a look at us. "Two months late," she scolded. "Tsk, tsk. I do hope you've either read _Wuthering Heights_, or are very fast readers. Now, who do we have here? I'm expecting an Isabella, Ruh-nez-may, Sophia and Juliette, am I right?"

"I prefer Bella," I smiled kindly.

"Nessie," my sister said from my side.

"It's just Sophie, actually," repeated Soph.

"So what did I get wrong with your name?" the teacher asked Juliette, looking extremely bored.

"Nothing," Juliette smiled, shrugging.

"Right, well then, _Bella, Nessie, _Soph_ie_ and Juliette, here are your literature books." She gave each of us a book with yellowing pages, dirt stuck under the clear contact. "Feel free to start reading while I continue to lecture the students on bringing their appropriate equipment to each and every class, Mr. Heimer!"

My sisters and I filled up the entire back left row. The large majority of the male population turned to stare, with one blonde female from the second row, sitting by herself. Her tall, muscular boyfriend did as well. We paid them no attention as we sat down, opening our books.

"Hey, you've practically memorized this," Nessie whispered to me from my right. "Mind telling me what it's about?"

I scowled. "It's a great story," I hissed back. "Just read it."

"Ms. Swan and… Ms. Swan," the teacher called. "Is there something you'd like to share with the class."

"No, thank you," Nessie smiled sweetly.

"No, please I do insist."

"We were just-"

"Enough excuses! I don't want to play bad teacher on your first day but I will not tolerate behaviour like this by _anyone_. So please, what do you think of our main two characters? Hmm?"

Nessie looked to me desperately, and I stood up. "I like reading about them."

"There are many students and English teachers who would disagree with you," the teacher argued. "What makes them so wonderful? Please, share your thoughts. Everyone knows how many flaws they have. Well, everyone except for Mr. Heimer here, who refuses to bring his book to class."

"Heathcliff and Cathy… they had an inevitability. Nothing could keep them apart-not her selfishness, or his evil, or even death, in the end. The point is that they had no redeeming qualities, and that's what made the story so famous. Because they were such ghastly people, they still found love."

"Are you telling me that my two of my favourite fictional characters are 'ghastly people'?" she roared.

Beside me, Juliette tugged on my wrist, begging me to sit down.

"Yes, I guess I am," I continued. Sophie face palmed and Nessie groaned.

"Any other class stories you'd like to pick on?" she asked viciously.

"Well, Romeo wasn't exactly a superb character either," I added, much to Juliette's horror. "I mean, he was in love with Rosaline, and then quickly swapped to Juliet for her beauty. Doesn't that seem a bit fickle? And then, just after his wedding, he kills his bride's cousin. That's not very brilliant. Could he have destroyed his own happiness any more thoroughly?"

That's what I meant by remembering my conversations with Edward more vividly than my time with my own parents. I just about replayed two old conversations between us.

"I think it would be best if you took a seat, Isabella," the teacher fumed.

"If you insist," I shrugged, sitting down.

"What were you thinking?" Juliette whispered when the teacher angrily turned back to the board. "Why on earth would you go and say something like that to an _English teacher?"_

I shrugged. "She asked for my opinion on Heathcliff and Cathy."

"When you realized she liked those two characters was probably your cue to stop," Sophie put in. "And then picking on Romeo? What do you have against him, anyway?"

"Nothing," I grimaced. "Just an old conversation between an old friend that popped into my mind."

Juliette and Nessie knew not to pry any further, and Sophie wasn't going to pick on me without their support. She returned to chapter one, mumbling about stupid vampires who couldn't keep their mouth shut.

Class passed all quickly, thankfully, and I was able to slip out with Sophie before the teacher could call me back to lecture on the importance of classic novels to our society.

Juliette and Nessie caught up with us outside. "Do you have any idea how vicious that woman is?" Nessie hissed as we walked away. "Thanks for making her mad then bailing on us, Bella. Juliette and I were lucky enough to hear about Romeo's finer points, and Heathcliff and Cathy's 'redeeming qualities'."

"Yeah, next time you find a problem with characters in two of your favourite books, bring it up with someone other than an English teacher, Bella," Juliette sighed in agreement.

"Oh my god," Sophie breathed. "Keep walking."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Vampires, two of them, behind us. Don't turn around!" she hissed. "Don't let them see our faces."

"Bella's red coat is a bit of a giveaway," Nessie pointed out. "They can easily find us again."

"Hey, your red pants aren't doing us any favours," I retorted.

"Guys, let's just find Will and Liam," Juliette said calmly. "We'll figure this out together. Hey, have you seen my white beanie? I thought I left it in the car the other day."

"You did," Nessie answered. "But Will thought it contrasted horribly with his grey seats and removed it. Not sure where it is now."

"Will thought grey and white didn't go?" Juliette asked. "Wow."

"I know," Sophie agreed.

"Hey girls!" Will yelled from down the corridor. Juliette skipped over to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. He tucked her under one arm.

"This really creepy vampire keeps stalking us," Liam whispered.

"Yeah," Will agreed. "He is aware we can _get a restraining order_," he shouted over his shoulder.

"What are you-" Nessie asked.

"He's still following us," Will explained. "Do you have any idea how many girls were falling for him just then? Like, seriously, he's never going to fall in love with a _human._"

"You never know," I said softly.

"Okay, I have drama by myself," Sophie announced, ignoring my odd comment. "So that should be fun. You know, alone… in a school with stalker vampires… top of me to-do list, in fact."

Liam pulled her in for a hug. "Stay safe," he whispered. "And _do not take that jacket off!_"

"Is that because there are vampires in the school, or boys?" she asked jokingly.

"The latter," we all answered, aside from Liam.

"Guys, the bell rang a few minutes ago," Sophie pointed out.

"Oh, I wouldn't know," Nessie said. "I was too busy getting yelled at by some psycho teacher because Bella pissed her off!"

"It's not my fault," I defended. "She asked my opinion on Heathcliff and Cathy, and I gave it to her. I wasn't putting them down, I was explaining why the novel became so popular."

"But then picking on Romeo?" Juliette whined. "Ugh. For the first time in my vampire life, I think a human just gave me a headache."

"Okay, I don't even want to know what just went on," Will sighed. "But I do know that Juliette, Liam and I have to go learn about the reproduction system. See ya!"

"You know that they learn about more than sex in health," Sophie called after them.

"Soph, we're in a school surrounded by teachers trying to teach," Nessie pointed out.

"I know," she sighed. "I also know I have drama in D4, all by myself. See you guys at the break?"

"Sure, meet you in the cafeteria," Nessie smiled.

"See ya, Soph," I farewelled. She waved goodbye, leaving me with Nessie.

"Okay, you ready for biology, Bella?" she asked, extending her arm.

"I sure am," I laughed, graciously accepting it.

**Okay, five reviews and I post another chapter :) I would just like to thank juliansmithfan and Jeredith for being amazing reviewers and readers! Thanks so much!**

**Thank you to everyone else who has continually reviewed :D**

**~Pascal xx**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Updated copy: Okay, this is exactly the same as the chapter I posted an hour or two ago, and I had two really cool fonts for the notes Bella and Nessie changed in class, and then they swapped to Calibri and Bella's font disappeared or something, so this one has both sides of the conversation ;) Sorry about that guys! Thanks to BriP for pointing it out first :P xx**

**Thank you so so so much to everyone that has left a comment, added this story to their favourites and started following! I love you guys so much!**

**Disclaimer: Refer to previous chapter because writing disclaimers for Renesme is just confusing me now**

"Oh sh*t," I muttered when we arrived at Lab 4.

"What?" Nessie asked, concerned.

"There's a fan," I said, gesturing to where a metal fan stood just by the door. "It'll blow our scents all over the place."

Renesme frowned and reached into her bag. "Here," she offered, handing me a white beanie.

"Isn't this Juliette's?" I asked.

"Yep," she grinned, pulling Sophie's black Guess one out as well. "It'll blow all our scents into the air and make any rogue vampires think there's more of us in the room then there actually are. Just don't tell Juliette I have it," she added worriedly.

We pulled the hats over our head, tucking our hair up so that our scent wouldn't overpower Juliette's and Sophie's.

"Ready?" I asked nervously.

Nessie grinned at me, leading the way into the classroom. For a second I felt like the girl crying over a broken heart in the forest. Weak and stupid. Was I really allowing my sister to walk before me, headlong into danger?

I sped up, nudging her shoulder as I pushed past her. "Hold your horses," she whisper-laughed.

I smiled at her. The classroom was already filled with students pulling out their textbooks. "Just get past the fan quickly," I whispered.

I felt the air stir as Nessie nodded behind me. I took a deep breath and almost ran past it, Nessie copying my actions. As soon as we were past it, she pulled her beanie off, shaking her still-perfect hair out behind her. I saw many of the girls watch, jealous of the straight locks that reached her hips.

I mimicked her movements, my own hair falling out much less glamorously than Renesme's. It had a slight curl to it, an improvement from the waves I'd had when I was human. Although it was still the same boring coffee-brown, it had more of a shine to it, like the models for a shampoo add.

"Ah, you must be Isabella and Renesme Swan," the teacher grinned. He was a middle aged man with brown trousers, a blue and white plaid shirt, a green woolen vest and a red bow tie.

"We prefer Bella and Nessie," I corrected politely.

"Of course, my mistake," he smiled kindly. "Now, I believe you have forms for me to sign?"

We handed up our slips and he signed the second bar for us. "Now, why don't you two have a seat further at the back. I do hope you don't mind being lab partners until the Christmas break," he laughed.

"Of course not," Nessie answered. "Come on, Bells."

She tugged my arm away from the teacher, making sure to make contact with my bare hands. I saw her in my mind, as clear as day. She was standing in this exact lab, except the rest of the students were gone. "There are two vampires on our right," Nessie was saying. "Our seats our behind them. Don't look at them. Don't attract attention."

She pulled her arm away as we neared our desk. She allowed me in first, and I whispered 'got it' under my breath. My lips barely moved, and no humans picked up on our subtle communication tactic.

I bent down and pulled out an empty exercise book, as did Nessie. As promised, my timetable was stuck on the inside cover, reminding me of the upcoming maths lesson with Renesme.

I leaned at just the right angle as I delicately wrote 'biology' on the inside cover, making sure my hair fell in front of my face like a curtain.

_I didn't look up as I set my book on the table and took my sear, but I saw his posture change from the corner of my eye. He was leaning away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair and averting his face like he smelled something bad. Inconspicuously, I sniffed my hair. It smelled like strawberries, the scent of my favourite shampoo. It seemed an innocent enough odor. I let my hair fall over my right shoulder, making a dark curtain between us, and tried to pay attention to the teacher._

I gasped, causing Nessie to look over in panic.

The two vampires in front of us were positioned so that their heads were bowed down together, and they were whispering furiously to each other, although the male on the left seemed to be doing most of the talking.

Despite my extreme hearing skills, I couldn't keep track of their conversation, as, for often no apparent reason, the male would nod or shake his head, and the female was communicating through facial expressions I couldn't see.

I was so focused on the bronze hair in front of me, sitting beside a short, petite ballerina with black hair that stuck up at all angles that I didn't notice Nessie's paper until it was under my nose, nudging my elbow.

**Bella? Something wrong? You don't look too good…**

_The vampires are in front of us_

**Yeah, that's what I showed you. Didn't you get my message?**

_I got it. That wasn't the problem_

**Can you please tell me what's going on, then?**

_I recognise them_

**From where? Nomads?**

_Not exactly_

**For crying out loud Bella, just tell me already! I'm going crazy**

_It's Edward and Alice_

**Cullen?!**

_Yeah_

**What do we do?**

_What can we do?_

**Should we move?**

_Uproot the whole family when we've finally settled down because I haven't gotten over a little heartbreak? No way!_

**But this is serious**

_I don't care. We're going to be around for all eternity Nessie. We're going to meet up with them some time or other_

But now? When you're still in… you know…

_Love with him? Maybe it's fate_

**You don't really believe in that do you?**

_I was destined to be a vampire, Ness. Edward was just the first door to that. Even when he left, the universe was still out to change my mortality_

**Are you sure you'll be okay?**

_Of course. I may have to see them everyday, but who said anything about talking?_

**Can you manage?**

_Yes_

**Do you want to talk to Juliette now?**

_No_

**Are you sure?**

_Positive_

**One of them is going to approach you**

_I'll cross that bridge when it arrives_

**Bella, you're still in love with the boy who broke your heart. It's his fault your dead**

_It's also his fault I met you and everyone else in the Swan family_

**I'm serious, Bella!**

_So am I. Let's just pay attention to cellular anatomy, okay?_

**If you insist…****  
**

I scrunched up the piece of paper, shoving it into my handbag on the ground and straightening up. I tossed my hair over one shoulder. I'd never really thought about what I would do if I ever stumbled across the Cullen's. Yes, I'd thought about meeting Esme or Alice somewhere and catching up, then getting my family and going far away. I was immortal-I had a lot of spare time on my hands to daydream about stuff like that. But I'd never taken it seriously. I'd just assumed that the world was a large place filled with lots of people. And even if the Cullen's and my family did end up in the same town, what were the chances we'd be in the same school?

But no, here we were, Cullen's and Swan's both at Gig Harbour High School, and I was completely unprepared. I thought about how _I _was feeling right now. Was I mad at Edward? Was I heartbroken? Was I upset? I wasn't entirely sure. I respected his decision to leave me. People change, and with them their feelings for other people. I wasn't going to hold that against him. It wasn't his fault I had died, either. I was a magnet for danger, of course something like this would happen sooner or later. I was just surprised that it had ended up with me being immortal rather than dead. Or completely dead, anyways.

The bell shocked me back to reality. How long had I been thinking for? When you're a vampire, time flies by, I guess. An hour is nothing compared to the rest of eternity you had to live.

"Bella?" Edward whispered. He had turned to face me now. I didn't glance up, quickly clipping my book back into place in my binder and swinging my handbag onto my shoulder.

"Come on," I muttered, grabbing Nessie's hand and dragging her out of the room.

"Sorry," she mouthed to the two vampires behind us.

I turned to glare at her. "Bella, watch out-" she warned, but I had stopped just in time, recognizing the scent of someone behind me.

I looked up into the startled face of Jasper Cullen.

I growled territorially, just enough for any nearby vampire's to hear, and pushed past him. He was so stunned that he allowed my sister and I to pass without any trouble.

**Five reviews for another chapter? Please? Also tell me what you think so far of their little reunion. It gets better, I promise! Or at least, I think it gets better :P**

**I just wanted to say that I'll be on a tropical holiday for the next ten days or so, and I won't be able to post the next chapter for a while. I have to wake up at three in the morning tomorrow, so just less than eleven hours where I live. I'll post another one as soon as I get back :) Thanks so much everyone!**

**~Pascal xx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Thanks so much! I'm not continuing with disclaimers, but you all know I'm not Stephenie Meyer, so yeah :P Please review or follow or favourite or something! Love you all!**

**Courtesy to Sunflower37149, I decided to post another chapter seeing as though I'll be gone for 10 days. So two chapters in a few short hour aha :) Hope you guys like! It's a bit short, but it was written on short notice ;) Have fun while I'm gone!**

"What do we do?" I hissed, sitting down at an abandoned table in the cafeteria. On the other side of the room, Emmett and Rosalie were staring at me, Emmett with humour behind his eyes, Rosalie with a little bit of contempt. They must have been the ones staring at us in English. Neither seemed as surprise as the others when they found out I was still around.

"I thought you said you could handle it," she whispered back. Her eyes drifted to the doorway, where Edward, Alice and Jasper were entering with a flow of students.

I groaned and leant forward, banging my forehead against the table. "I thought I could," I moaned.

"We can still move," Nessie offered,

"No," I sighed, sitting up and patting my hair down. "I'm not letting them ruin our chance here. I'll be fine."

"Are you-"

"_Yes."_ I turned to another entrance, where Juliette was walking with Liam and Will.

"Juliette!" I cried, jumping off my seat and flinging myself across the room. I was aware of more than just the Cullen's eyes boring into my back as I ran like a maniac.

I wrapped my arms around her neck. "I, uh, missed you too, Bells," she laughed. "Is everything okay?"

"Cullen's," I whispered. Liam and Will looked confused, but Juliette just gaped at me.

"You're kidding?"

"I wish."

"What are we going to do?"

"Nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I can handle it."

"Because if you want, I don't mind moving."

"No, I'm okay."

"Does someone mind filling us in?" Will finally broached. "Because we have _no idea _what the hell is going on."

"Come on," I sighed, leading our way back to our table.

"Woah, hold on there," some guy in a hoodie and oversized pants said, putting a hand out to stop me. Nessie was sitting with Sophie at the table behind him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To my table," I said through my teeth. "You're blocking my way."

"Baby, I _am _your way," he joked, pressing up close to me.

I struggled to control my temper. I was surprised with myself. I was usually very cool-headed.

"Get out of my way," I warned, "before I make you."

"Ooh, feisty," he laughed. "I like it."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed him by the shoulders, sending him sprawling behind me. I climbed into a seat beside Nessie.

"Bella!" Sophie exclaimed. "You can't just do that!"

"Yeah, well, we have bigger problems," I said angrily.

"You mean those other vampires?" Soph asked as Juliette and my two brothers sat down. "Don't worry about them. The blonde one's in my drama class, and she's cool."

"Rosalie?" I asked, stunned. I quickly composed my surprise.

"How did you know her name?" Sophie asked, confused.

Nessie looked towards me and I nodded my permission. She lightly touched Sophie's wrist, and her eyes went blank for a moment as Nessie's memories of myself explaining my change and my love for Edward flowed through her mind.

She gasped in shock as Nessie withdrew her touch. "You mean…? Oh, that's horrible!" Sophie gasped.

"Okay, I feel really out of the loop," Will announced loudly. "Can someone _please _explain _what the hell is happening?!"_

Renesme looked at me curiously, wondering if I wanted my two wild and noisy brothers to know my deepest secrets. I nodded again. I couldn't just leave them hanging on. I owed them that much.

She leant across the table, touching Will and Liam's fingertips. Their eyes looked like Sophie's for a brief minute, before they were shocked back to the present. They looked at my miserable face, stunned. We were concentrating so hard on sending each other messages through facial expressions that we didn't notice the petite girl walk up to us, which is strangely unnatural for vampires to be unaware of anything.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

We all stood up immediately, Nessie (on my left) and Will (on my right) moving in to stand protectively by my side.

"Get lost," Liam snarled.

Alice raised her hands in surrender. "I'm not here to talk," she said. "That's Bella's decision. When-or if-she does want to talk to us. We'll be waiting."

"Then what are you here for?" Sophie snapped.

"Okay, my husband, Jasper" –she looked towards our table, where Jasper's face was contorted with pain- "can feel emotions. Which you all might already know. The thing is, he's having a bit of a hard time with Edward and Bella's pain and sadness combined, so if you could just lighten the mood a bit over here, that would be great."

"Of course," Nessie said in mock seriousness. "Anything for the family that murdered my sister."

Alice looked strangely upset. "Renesme," I scolded harshly.

Nessie shrugged. "Just stating the truth," she mumbled.

"Renesme?" Alice questioned. "That's an unusual name."

"None of your business," Will said angrily, forever the protective brother. "Now, why don't you run along back to your family?"

Alice shrugged, daintily skipping from our spot in a fashion that would break any ballerina's heart. My family relaxed their positions sitting down softly, but I remained standing, my eyes locked on Edward's. How dare he look at me that way, as if he actually cared about what happened to me?

"Bella," Nessie nudged me softly, indicating I should sit. I obeyed her, partly due to the many stares radiating from around the room.

"Do you want to go home?" Juliette asked softly.

"No, we're staying here," I said firmly.

"I didn't ask if you wanted to move, I asked if you wanted to go home," she repeated. I looked briefly at her, before shaking my head.

Sophie shrugged. "She's right. Better stay here, where everyone will see a confrontation than at home, in the middle of the woods, where we might have to defend ourselves."

"The Cullen's aren't like that," I said.

"The Cullen's can hear you," Liam added.

"Carlisle, their father, he doesn't like conflict," I whispered this time. "It won't come down to anything physical, trust me."

"I don't like the look of that big one," Nessie muttered.

"Emmett?" I laughed. "They're probably thinking the same of Will."

"I am very intimidating," he admitted, smiling.

"Shouldn't we order something?" Juliette asked. "People are probably already wondering if the Cullen's and the Swan's are related or something, let's not give them anything else to ogle about."

"No point," Nessie stated. "Recess is over in two minutes. Meet back here at lunch?"

"Yep," Liam agreed, casting a wary eye to the Cullen's. "Stay away from them," he recommended. He turned to stare at me personally. "Especially you, Bella."

**Hope you're like it so far. Reviews for another chapter? Five, please!**

**~Pascal xx**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**I am so amazed at the wonderful reviews I got for this story so thank you to all my readers! I'm back from Fiji, by the way! It was amazing there – so beautiful! Anyways, hope you enjoy.**

"Are you kidding me?!" I whisper shouted from the front of the room. Naturally, Emmett and Rosalie (and I assumed Jasper, too) had moved down to the same year as Edward and Alice. My family was all in one year, too. But, just my luck, I had maths with Nessie and Emmett.

"Something wrong?" the teacher asked from the white board. He paused, a blue marker frozen in his hand.

"We just need you to sign this, sir," Renesme answered politely. She practically danced over to him, holding her form out. We were both aware of many male's drooling as I followed her.

He sighed, exchanging his marker for a black pen. After a quick scribble on the third box on our sheets, he pointed us to seats.

Naturally, we were next to Emmett.

I was first in the row, meaning I was forced to sit by Emmett, with Nessie on the end.

"Hey, Bella," he grinned.

"Emmett," I nodded, swinging my bag off my shoulder and sliding it under the desk. I felt the table quiver as Nessie slammed her folder down, glaring at Emmett through narrowed eyes.

He held his hands up in surrender, rocking back on his chair. "It was Edward's decision," he murmured under his breath.

I froze, my hands half pulling out my maths grid book, before composing myself, starting to move again.

I opened my book, holding the cover up at an angle so that Emmett couldn't see the front page.

Just ignore him

I nodded slightly at Nessie. Emmett raised his eyes at our communication.

I ignored Emmett the whole class, despite his constant 'accidental' nudges, or when he stepped on my foot. Like Nessie said when she tapped my hand, he was just trying to get a reaction out of me, and that was one thing I was not going to give him.

"Two minutes to the bell," he noted happily.

"What is your problem?" I snapped.

I looked up, making sure the teacher wasn't paying attention.

"Bella-" Nessie warned.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You know what. Why are you acting like nothing's changed? Nothing's happened? That almost a century hasn't gone by? Things aren't like the way they used to be, Emmett."

"Aren't they?" He raised his eyebrows. "Edward loves you. From the way you looked at him, I have a pretty good guess that you still love Edward."

"What are you talking about?" The bell rung, cutting our conversation short.

"Not that much has changed, Bella," he said, standing up. "Just keep that in mind."

He walked away from me, black backpack hanging off one shoulder.

"Can you believe him?" I asked Nessie angrily as we packed up, a little slower than before. "He has no right to judge my opinions on anyone, especially Edward! Who cares if I did still love him, anyways. He left me, remember?"

I looked up, to where Edward Cullen was leaning against the door frame. His expression was full of mixed emotions. Pain, agony, disappointment.

I huffed off, Nessie silently in tow. "Good one," she muttered to Edward on the way out.

"Bella!" Alice called. We were a few corridors away from the maths rooms, and apparently Alice had tracked us down. I continued on, slightly faster than before. "Bella, wait!"

I spun on my heel. "What?" I demanded.

"I called Esme," Alice said softly. "She wants to see you."

"Yeah, well, I don't want to see her," I retorted. Nessie patiently kept up with me as I walked away. Unfortunately, so did Alice.

"That's not true," she replied quietly. "You miss her. How can you not?"

"It doesn't matter who I miss," I snapped angrily. "I don't want to particularly see any of you, and I certainly don't want to talk to any of you. Conversation ended. Goodbye."

"That's not true," she repeated. "I know you miss Esme and I. I know you still love Edward."

"You can't possibly know those things!" I screamed, stopping and turning to face her. "You can't possibly know anything about me."

"I know your favourite colour is brown," Alice whispered. "I know it reminds you of Phoenix."

"No, you know my favourite colour _was_ brown. You know it _reminded _me of Phoenix. You don't know anything about me, because you weren't there all those years. You weren't there when I was changed, you weren't there when I had to change my diet, and you weren't there for those first sixteen years when I was alone, and hurt, and in pain. Don't you understand, Alice? You were never there. None of you were!"

"Please," Alice begged. "We just want to talk. Bella, I'm here for you!"

I paused. "No. No, if you were here for me, you would have been there all those times I fell apart. But you weren't."

"Bella…"

I stared at her coldly. Rosalie turned around the corner, Emmett on her heels. She stopped right in front of me.

"I know I was never the perfect friend," she started. "I know you didn't like me, and I know you thought I hated you. But I never did, Bella." She crammed something into my hand. "Just think about it, okay?"

She took Alice's hand and ran off, Emmett behind her. "Rose," he called.

I sighed as they turned the corner.

Seven o'clock tonight  
1 Gravillea Crescent  
Please, for Esme  
-Edward

"Are we going?" Nessie whispered.

"'We'?" I asked, picking up on the plural.

"Of course. You didn't think we'd let you go on your own, did you?"

"I have to," I sighed. "And to be honest, it would be nice to see Esme again."

"Good, I'd like to finally meet one of the women I was named after." Nessie smiled at the thought.

I laughed nervously. "Let's go break the news to the others."

**Ok, five reviews for another chapter!  
~Pascal xx**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

**Thank you thank you thank you for all the wonderful reviews I've gotten! Also, thank you again to DemiGoddess2012 for giving me constructive critiscm but also pointing out the parts she liked. I'd just like to ask a certain someone (you know who you are) to please not point out every single tiny detail you didn't like? I understand if you don't like my story, but maybe please stop reading rather than complaining that you didn't like the fact that I used one word instead of another? I will seriously not be offended in any way if you just stopped reading it all together rather than being mean. Because when I explained to you why I wrote it like that, you just argued. I'm the writer, shouldn't I know why I wrote it? But overall, thank you to everyone else who reviews, especially DemiGoddess2012 who has taken the time to talk to me on PM and review just about every chapter. Thanks daughter of Hades! ;)**

"All I heard was 'let's go break the news to the others'," Will announced as we sat down.

"What?" Nessie asked.

"We had met up near the change rooms and we came within hearing range of you," Sophie explained.

"So? What are you breaking to us?" Will asked. His face grew hopeful, and he started smiling a huge grin. "Have you finally decided to smash Cullen's face in?"

"William!" I hissed, turning around. There Edward was, staring at me again.

"What is his problem?" Sophie muttered. Juliette sat down beside us.

"He still loves Bella," Nessie said in a sing-song voice.

I snapped around to face her. "You weren't there," I whispered. "You didn't see the look in his eyes. He really, really doesn't want me around."

"Tell that to him," Sophie muttered again.

"Do you have any idea how annoying that chick with the black hair is?" Juliette demanded. "All period long… Bella-this, Bella-that, Bella, Bella, Bella! I'm really starting to hate your name, Bells."

"What was she asking?"

"How you were changed, how _I _was changed, how come Edward can't read our minds, how come you won't talk to them…"

I snorted. "It's a valid question," she pointed out. "Completely obvious answer, but still a valid question."

"Shouldn't we be wondering what to do about tonight?" Nessie whispered.

"What about tonight?" Juliette asked. "Wait, we're getting dirty looks. Why are we getting dirty looks?"

"Because Will's supposed to have maths," Nessie joked, looking pointedly at Will.

"Did someone rig our timetables?" I asked as Will groaned. "Doesn't it seem odd to you that someone has a class with a Cullen every period? And that our one free period this week, Edward, Alice and Emmett happen to have off as well?"

"Maybe it's fate," Nessie mocked.

"Will," Soph asked. "Shouldn't you go to maths now?"

"No," he mumbled. "The blonde's there."

"What's wrong with Rosalie?" Sophie asked again.

"She scares me."

"Go on, braveheart," Nessie mocked. "I'm sure she doesn't bite."

"We're about to find out," he answered. "See you guys at lunch?"

"Sure, same table, bro," Liam asked, giving William a high-five as he passed.

"I think we should really concentrate on tonight," Juliette whispered worriedly. "This could affect Bella's whole future!"

"I should go alone," I piped up. "This is my past coming back to haunt me. You don't need to get involved in all this confusion."

"You're not going alone," Liam said decidedly. "If this was any one of us, you'd be the first to offer your support, Bella. Because you're like our leader. Our mother, in a weird, sister kind of way. You've always been there for us, always with the right thing to say. And now it's our turn to be there for you."

"We can't all go," Sophie argued. "I'm not saying Bella should go alone, but there's at least six Cullen's-"

"Seven, total," I corrected. "Unless other's have joined since, but I knew Carlisle and Esme, Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie… and Edward."

"Okay, so if all six of us go, it'll look like we're trying to even the numbers out," Sophie said. "Do we want it to look like we're preparing for a fight, or Bella just wants to hear them out?"

"There's not going to be a fight," I whispered angrily. "I've told you, Carlisle wouldn't let there be a fight, and I don't think Esme, Alice or Edward would be too keen on the idea. I can't speak for the others."

"Bella's right, in a way," Liam said slowly. "There's a pretty good chance there won't be a fight… physically, at least."

"What are you saying?" Juliette asked.

"I think I get you now," Nessie nodded. "The majority of the two clans just want peace, right? With Will being the odd one out, basically. And possibly the big Cullen. But, sorry about this, Bella, Edward broke Bella's heart. He crushed her. He ripped it out and smashed it under his foot. He-"

"Is listening into this conversation," I said, lowering my head.

"Oh, I know," Nessie smiled. "Anyways, that's going to leave its mark. It doesn't matter what you say now, Bella, but you're going to get mad at him tonight."

"He said it was for Esme."

"And you think that his leaving won't come up somewhere?" Nessie asked. "Bella, you're going to get mad, or angry, or lose your temper. After almost a century, you can't keep it bottled up inside for much longer."

"Should we really be having this conversation in hearing range of them?" Juliette asked worriedly.

"It's only the psychic, mind reader and the big one," Nessie waved up.

"How did you know about the psychic thing?" I asked.

Nessie shrugged. "Rosalie told Sophie, who told me. And you told me about the mind reading thing. Anyways, you're going to need someone with you tonight. To drive you back home if things get out of hand, to help calm you down… to protect you."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't need any 'protecting'," I sighed.

"I'm coming," Renesme decided. "I don't care what you think. I'm coming tonight. And if you try to leave without me, I'll just follow you. I have their address."

"Nessie-"

"Please," she begged.

I sighed in defeat. "Fine."

"I'll come too," Sophie offered.

"Oh no, you're not going anywhere near those Cullen's without me," Liam said, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer. "I don't trust them as far as the human-me could throw them."

"Then I'll go," Juliette put in. "Bella told me about some of this stuff before."

"Are you sure?" I asked worriedly. "Won't William be angry?"

"I'll talk to him," she promised. "I'll get him to understand."

"Good luck," Nessie snorted. Juliette rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to the library," I declared, standing up with my bag and binder.

"Bella, you can't-" Nessie began.

"The sign said seniors with a free period were allowed to use the library," I said, "and I wanted to start reading Wuthering Heights."

"How you can like that book is beyond me," Sophie muttered.

I raised an eyebrow. "Would you like me to explain Heathcliff and Cathy's inevitability again?" I asked.

"No!" my three sisters yelled.

"Uh, that's okay, Bella," Juliette said.

"Yeah, we don't want our English teacher to overhear you," Nessie smiled.

"What on earth happened in English?" Liam wondered alone.

Sophie quickly pecked him on the lips. "Long story," she whispered.

"Not long enough that the big one doesn't have time to explain to Edward and Alice," Renesme muttered, casting a dark eye at the Cullen table.

"Okay, 'the big one' has a name," I pointed out. "He's Emmett. So, I'm going to the library now. Anyone coming?"

"Bella, we're not leaving you with anything but maximum security," Nessie joked. "We can all start reading that stupid book."

"What am I supposed to do?" Liam asked.

"You can get started on homework," Nessie nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, that should work. Let's go, and we'll come back just before the bell so Will doesn't get lost."

**Sorry it's a bit short, but I felt like if I kept writing on this chapter it would just drag on and be boring, you know? The next one's longer, promise! Okay, I'm trying to up this and ask for possibly ten reviews for another chapter? Please?**

**~Pascal xx**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

**Thanks so much guys! Hope you like it :) And just to clear up any confusion, I'm a girl. Pascal is just my nickname, because my friends call me 'Chameleon', and when we watched Tangled and Pascal was the name of the Chameleon, I adopted the name Pascal… But I thought if I signed everything 'Chameleon' it would look weird… So yeah **

"Oh, thank goodness!" Will exclaimed when we arrived back at the table. We were a few minutes late, due to being forced to take the longest route possible back from the library.

He practically ran to Juliette, wrapping her up in his arms. He breathed in the scent of her, pressing his lips to where her forehead met her hair.

"I'm fine," she smiled. "We just had to make a detour."

"I thought… when you all weren't here, I thought that you'd gone and met the Cullen's in private," Will sighed.

"Well, thank you for your concern for us," Nessie snorted, sliding onto a red chair.

"Yeah, thanks bro," Liam laughed. "I can see you were very worried."

Juliette rolled her eyes, latching onto her husband's hand and pulling him to sit beside her.

"Have you decided what we're doing tonight, Bella?" Will asked.

I took a deep breath. "I'm going to meet the Cullen's."

"_Why?_"

"Because I want to talk to them. They were once part of my life, Will. I can't just let that go. They deserve to know what happened to me. And, to be honest, it'll be nice to talk to Esme. She was lovely to me."

"So we're all going, then?"

"No," Liam said slowly. "Bella wanted to go along, but Renesme's decided she's tagging along."

"Just Bella and Nessie?" Will asked worriedly. "That isn't enough!"

"That's why I'm going, too," Juliette said quietly.

"I'm coming," Will said firmly.

"No." Juliette shook her head. "It's just us three girls. You're staying home with Sophie and Liam." Will started to protest. "We can't make it look like we're trying to even it out, Will. They might think we're expecting a fight, and that might be what it turns out to be."

"Then why isn't Bella going alone?"

"You know Bella. She might get angry or upset, and Renesme might not be enough to convince her to leave. Four's too many to go, but two's too less."

"Then why can't Sophie go instead?"

"Because Nessie and I were the ones who knew about Bella's past before today," Juliette said calmly. "Will, nothing's going to happen. Bella said Carlisle, their leader, is a peaceful person. He won't let a fight break out."

William eyed Emmett warily. "Emmett's fine," I assured him. "He won't cause anything."

"And we'll make sure Juliette comes home in one piece, two at most," Nessie grinned.

"Not helping," I muttered, nudging her in the ribs.

"Will, I'll be fine," Juliette whispered.

"Okay, but I'm chaperoning. I'll drop you off a mile or two away from their house and you can run the rest of the way. I'm picking you up, too."

"Deal," Juliette smiled.

"But-" Nessie began, but stopped when she saw the look Juliette was giving her, as if to say 'this is the best we're going to get, don't argue'.

"We're going to have to buy food," Liam said quietly. "Everyone's staring at us."

"Let's go," I sighed. "We don't have to eat it, but we should get something to eat and drink. Avoid a bit of suspicion."

I stood up, pushing the red chair in behind me. My family followed as I headed to the front of the cafeteria. The line was short, the majority of kids already sitting down with their processed meatloaf and low-calorie salads.

We attracted a lot of stares as we passed, mainly from men staring, open mouthed, at Renesme and I, seeing that Juliette and Sophie were taken.

"Do you think we could get away with making up boyfriends?" Nessie muttered to me. "How about a French boy? I always liked the French. Yes, I started dating a French exchange student at our last school, and we decided we could make a long distance relationship work. Or should he be Italian?"

I laughed quietly, nudging past a girl with blonde curly hair. "Hi!" she chirped, running a little to keep pace with me. Her curls bounced delicately, and even for a human, with her flawless skin and blue eyes, she was pretty. "My name's Emily." I glanced at her. She was wearing skinny jeans (like ninety-nine percent of the female population) with a pink cardigan.

"Hi," I muttered, stopping to pick up a tray. My family filed in behind me, but Emily stood just out of the line.

"So you guys are new?" she asked, trying to make conversation. "That's cool. What's your name?"

"Bella," I answered simply. "And this is Nessie, Juliette, Will, Liam and Sophie."

"Nice to meet you," she said politely. "I have Spanish next. Anyone else?"

"No, I don't think so," Nessie replied.

"Oh," Emily said. She looked upset. "Oh well. Maybe we'll have another period together?"

"Maybe," Sophie agreed as we moved up to the metal trays filled with cafeteria food.

We returned to our table with chunky macaroni and cheese, a tomato salad and a side of potato gems. "Did I ever eat this stuff?" Nessie wondered aloud.

"'Course," Will laughed. "No one's human life is complete without easy mac."

"Easy mac?" Nessie asked. "What's that?"

Juliette turned to reply. "It's noodles that you mix with water and cook in the microwave, then you add cheese flavouring and stir it in. I think Will liked it when he was human."

"Liked it?" he boomed. "I survived on easy mac and two minute noodles."

"Two minute noodles?" Nessie asked.

I sort of tuned out as Juliette began explaining. Of course, my mind works differently to a human's, but I wasn't so focused on the conversation. It was more like a nattering in the back of mind. If someone was to ask me what Sophie just laughed about, I could respond without batting an eyelid. But at the same time, I wasn't trying to stay in the conversation.

What would happen tonight? Would someone lose their temper? Would _I_ lose my temper? Would a fight start? Would someone get hurt? I had been alive long enough to know that vampires instinctively bite when they're fighting, and that vampire venom stings for a few hours. I hoped I didn't do anything rash and end up getting Nessie or Juliette hurt. I didn't want to see Alice or Esme have to defend themselves, either.

What would Carlisle think? Would he be upset at the realization of my immortality, or would he overlook that and be proud of my vegetarianism, that I had successfully raised a family that was happy.

Would Esme want Edward to take me back? _Would _I go back? If Edward were to ask me, right here and right now, if I would fall one more time for him, give him another chance, what would I do? After all those years of wallowing in sadness at his disappearance from my life, could I give him another chance?

I stayed silent as everyone joked around for the rest of lunch. They were trying to ease the tension, lift my spirits, but it didn't work. Will's jokes weren't as loud, Nessie's laugh half-hearted. Juliette kept glancing at me out of the corner of her eye.

I turned around four times during that break. Each time, there he was. Beautiful, angelic face staring at me, eyes dark and full of… pain? Alice was looking, too. But she looked curious and interested. In my vampire-ness, or my lifestyle choices? Jasper was sitting with his head in his hands. Courtesy of my nervousness, perhaps? I could see Emmett sitting silently with Rosalie, heads together, whispering. Of course, I could hear every part of their conversation.

"_Will she come?"_

"_I dunno, Rose… she was falling pretty hard for Edward."_

"_But when he broke her heart…"_

"_Maybe she got over it pretty fast."_

"_Does it look like she's over him?"_

"_No, course not."_

"_Will she come?"_

"_I've already told you, I don't know."_

"I'm getting a bit tired of this conversation," I said, standing up. They didn't have any right to judge my feelings for Edward! Juliette looked confused, but the rest of my family immediately knew that I was talking about the Cullen's. Nessie nudged Juliette, tossing her head in the direction of the other vampire clan. Realization dawned on Juliette's face.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Sophie offered.

"No, thank you," I declined. "I'm going to wait outside the music rooms for class to start. I'll meet you there."

"I'm coming," Renesme declared, standing up. "You're not going anywhere alone, Bella."

"Are you sure?" I asked hesitantly. "I don't want to ruin your lunch-"

"Yes, because I was loving that food," she snorted. "Come on." She easily swung her legs off the seat, dancing to my side and grabbing my hand with one of her own, binder clasped under the other arm. "I just need to make one quick stop by our lockers."

"Okay," I sighed, allowing her to tow me past the sexual stares of the male race. Times like these were when I was glad I wasn't a mind reader.

It wasn't long before we had exited the cafeteria, entering the silent hallways of Gig Harbour High. "Bella, are you sure you're okay?" Nessie asked. "I know how hard this must be on you."

"It's all my fault," I muttered.

"Bella, no one controls who they fall in love with-"

"Not that," I waved off. "I should have known that they were here. I mean, who else would it be? I knew before I was a vampire that this lifestyle is extremely rare. I should have guessed immediately. Emmett and Rosalie were in English, you know that? I should have attuned my senses, known straight away that we weren't alone. I shouldn't have to rely on you guys for that. I'm the eldest. I'm the maternal figure of this family. _I should have known."_

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Nessie scolded. "Edward had you convinced that you'd never see him or his family again, Bells. You were one hundred percent positive that he was gone from your life. How were you to know?"

"Emmett and Rosalie…" I sighed, covering my face with my hands. We stopped beside our lockers, and I leaned against the red surface as Nessie entered her locker combination. "They were the first sign, the most obvious sign."

"Even if you did see them, which none of us did, I might mention, would you really have known Edward was here?" she asked. She grabbed her jacket from one shelf, sliding her arms through and tossing her hair back. "Like I said, Edward had you deluded. It was like he thought he could control fate or something. He doesn't make the rules. He doesn't run the universe. He should have said he wouldn't come looking for you, not promising to never see you again." She took in my miserable face. "I'm not really helping, am I? Anyways, even if you did see those two in English class, you'd have assumed that they had left Carlisle and Esme for a while, not come with the whole family."

"It amazes me how you talk about the Cullen's as if you know them," I joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Let's just concentrate on music, okay? We'll slay that dragon when it comes."

"Well, that dragon's flying in at seven o'clock tonight at first Gravillea Crescent," Nessie pointed out, "so you better sharpen your sword."

I sighed, rolling my eyes despite the situation. Nessie closed her locker, swinging her handbag onto her shoulder, binder under her arm. We walked in silence for a while. The music rooms were on the top floor on the other side of the school.

"What's it like?" Renesme whispered.

"What's what like?" I asked.

"Falling in love."

I stopped, quickly recovering myself and moving to continue pace with Ness. "It's the most amazing feeling in the world," I finally said. "When you realize you're with the one you love… it's like a blind man seeing the sun. It's like gravity's not holding you down to earth anymore – he is. It's like… It's like being so happy that you're life is absolutely perfect, that _he _is absolutely perfect. Loving him was the best experience in my life, and, honestly, I've never loved anyone more. I never knew it was possible to love someone that much. And all the little things… like the way he smiled, the way his hair fell just right, the way he'd hold me at night… everything was perfect."

"And when he left?"

"It was like dying," I croaked. "I could literally feel the pain of my heart breaking. I was dying. It was worse than my own transformation. Honestly, when my killer had me, I was genuinely begging for her to kill me. I was asking her to end it all. And when those wolves came and saved me… it was torture. But when the pain kicked in – I was so happy. It was like a break from the most horrible emotion I'd ever felt. It was like the sun had died, or everything had been taken away from me. I was alone in the world. I knew my old friends, and my parents were out there, and that they loved me, but it didn't feel like it. It felt like the one person who had ever cared for me had suddenly stopped, and that was a feeling that I'll never forget. And that sense of being alone, it's lasted till this day, but those first sixteen years were the worst. No one to talk to, nothing to take my mind off of him."

We rounded the corner, taking in the sight of the music room. "We're here," Nessie whispered. I nodded silently. I had a feeling that if I was human, I would be crying right now.

The bell rang. Had that much time really passed? It only felt like twenty minutes since we'd left the library, but the clocks on the wall were telling me it had been forty.

Everything had remained quiet for a while, until the clatter of students from downstairs reached the corridor we were in. Everyone lined up outside the music rooms with Nessie and I.

"Hey," Sophie smiled, walking up to us with Liam.

"Uh, you probably don't want to know who we have music with," Liam muttered, but it was a fraction of a second too late. I was already looking past him, to where Edward and Alice were walking up the corridor, looking like models.

"You've got to be kidding me," I moaned.

"That's why we hurried," Sophie explained. "I guess we weren't fast enough. We wanted to warn you."

I frowned. This was going to be harder than I thought. "Ness, are you sure that our timetables aren't rigged?"

"Of course not!" Nessie shook her head. "They looked just as stunned as we did when we found at they were here. They couldn't have."

"I reckon it's fate," Liam shrugged. "Bella and Edward are just meant to be."

"That's really not helping the situation," I hissed.

"Alright, class, two straight lines please." The music teacher, a lady with perfect features and long, blonde hair came to stand before us. She was wearing an ankle length white skirt with a pale blue long sleeve shirt and dangly silver earrings. "We have a lot to get through today, and we can't waste any time." Her eyes darted among the students, trying to catch anyone stepping out of line. "Ah, I see we have some new students."

"I'm Bella," I introduced, "and these are my siblings; Nessie, Sophie and Liam."

"Welcome to Gig Harbour High," she smiled. "Are you enjoying your time?"

"It's a great school," Nessie complimented. "Well, I'm glad you like it. I believe you have something I need to sign?"

"Yes, a slip," Sophie said, pulling hers out from between two pages in her music book.

"Excellent, I'll do that when we get inside." She gestured to the line we were standing in, up against the white wall. "This side in first."

We took our spots at the table at the back of the room. The classroom was arranged with desks pushed together, allowing four students per table.

"Okay," the teacher said lightly, stepping to the front of the room. "Where did we reach last lesson?"

"Alice Cullen did her piano piece," someone shouted out.

"Ah, yes, thank you, Tom," the teacher said. "That leaves Edward to perform his piece."

She looked towards my family and I. "I'll need your performance for your midterm grade, but of course you can have an extension. You just to play something on an instrument for over a minute before the class."

I nodded curtly, signaling that we understood. "Excellent!" she clapped. "Mr. Cullen?"

Edward rose, eyes focused on me as he weaved through tables to the front of the room. "What instrument?" she asked.

"Piano," he said softly. I watched as he sat down before the piano, long fingers stretched out over the white and black keys.

"When you're ready."

He looked up, catching my eye, and I held his gaze before ducking my head. His fingers pushed down, starting the music.

I immediately recognised the piece. This was my lullaby. The one he first played for me when I met his family, the one I inspired, the one he'd hum at night when I couldn't sleep… I guess it wasn't such a surprise that he'd remembered. I scolded myself for thinking he might still love me. Of course not! He'd made that very clear long ago. He was a vampire, after all, and I had first-hand experience of the whole memory-thing. His memory would be just as sharp and clear as mine. He'd have no trouble remembering how to play this. He wasn't showing that he still loved me – of course not! He was making a peace offering, a sign that he meant my family no harm, that somewhere, deep down, he still cared for me.

He couldn't possibly love me, who would? After almost a century, I knew that I was just eye-candy to boys who wanted to sleep with me. Even as a vampire, I wasn't the type of girl someone would love. Those short months where he had been kind enough to let me see I had a chance had ended decades ago, and now I was stuck as this creature, this monster, that nobody could ever grow to love.

But someone did, long ago. Someone had loved me. And that person was sitting before me, eyes locked on mine, hands that I so desperately wanted to hold playing the very song that he had written for me.

I stood up, knocking my chair back. Edward didn't pause in his performance. "Is everything alright, Bella?" the teacher asked worriedly.

"I can't… I'm not… Excuse me." I ducked out of the door.

"Bella!" Renesme called out behind me. I ran through the corridors, my feet slapping against the floor as I raced down stairs, around corners, to the bottom floor, where I ran into the girls bathroom.

I stopped by the sink, sobs shaking my whole body. I gripped the edge of the sink, praying that nobody would see the 'new Swan girl' break down in the bathroom.

"Bella?" someone asked timidly.

I turned around to face Emily.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm f-fine," I said hurriedly. This was the first time I've ever stuttered as an immortal.

"Come here, sweetie," she said. I don't know why I did what I did next. I mean, I'd barely known her. She was just a human! But maybe that was why I did it. Maybe I needed a little human time. Maybe all this vampire complications was getting to my head. But I opened my arms, and allowed Emily to give me a hug.

She patted my hair, not at all surprised by my cold, hard body. "It's okay," she soothed. "It's alright. You're okay."

I sobbed quietly into her shoulder. "Boy trouble?" she asked.

I pulled away. "You have no idea."

"Don't worry about it," she smiled. "Everything will turn out alright."

"I don't think it will, this time," I cried. "I don't think I'm going to get my happily ever after."

"Of course you will!" she said, holding my hand. "Of course you will. It'll get better. If it doesn't, then it's not the end."

"I should get back to class," I whispered.

"Okay. Me too. I just had to go to the bathroom before an hour of Calculus."

I gave a shaky laugh. "Oh, here." She dug around in her pockets for a crumpled up sticky note. "Do you have a pen?"

I shook my head. She reached inside her bra and produced an eyeliner. I looked in surprise and she laughed at my facial expression. "Girl's got to be prepared," she joked. She quickly scribbled down her phone number. "Just in case you ever need a girlfriend to talk to. You know, other than your sisters."

"Thanks, Emily," I smiled.

She gave me a squeeze before heading out the door. She paused, one foot on the bathroom tiles, the other on the concrete outside. "You sure you're okay?"

I nodded, giving a convincing smile. "Okay, well… bye."

As soon as she was out the door and halfway down the corridor, I tore her phone number in half. I tucked it under wet paper towels in the bin. It was a kind gesture, but I couldn't call her. She still had her whole life ahead of her, whereas I was doomed to repeat my eighteenth year over and over for all eternity.

**I tried to make this one longer, so please ten reviews? Thanks!**

**~Pascal xx**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**A/N: Okay, so school's started up again in Australia, and I thought I'd be able to handle schoolwork and fanfiction, but it's way too hectic! I'm trying to hurry this story along, so this is the second last chapter :( But I'll **_**probably **_**post more on here, so follow me if you want to read more of my simply amazing work ;) Kidding, kidding. But yeah, I will probably use this in the future. Don't know how long till then, but you know :P Okay, so I'm so sorry for taking so long! But I had massive writer's block, and right now it's almost midnight on a school night but I had an urge to write and I knew if I didn't then I wouldn't ever update this! So here you go. Thank you to everyone who left me a comment or PM about my writer's block, and a special thank you to-**

**-Fantasiam  
-saxophoneplayaa15 (or something like that… I couldn't find your exact username – so sorry! But seriously, this girl helped me so much with my story! Thank you!)  
-tammyrolls  
-the sunshine cullen  
-RyMia  
-Matthias Stormcrow  
-vampdreams  
-TheTwilightSaga4Ever**

**Thank you for your ideas! I took little parts of these people's comments/ideas and mixed them with other's… So thank you!**

**Also I had a wide range of what people would like to happen, and if I used all of them my story would be very contradicting! So I just wrote what the vast majority of what people wanted, and what I wanted.**

**Also, sorry to DemiGoddess2012 for Rosalie. We've been keeping in touch over PM because she is my favourite reviewer and is so much fun to debate about Twilight with! But I needed Rose to like Bella by the end of the fanfic otherwise it would bug me so I'm so sorry but it had to happen! Aah! So sorry!**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy the much awaited chapter twelve. Review and comment, and chapter fourteen will be out… when I finish writing it. No 'five reviews for another chapter' or anything, because my wi-fi's off now so this won't go up till tomorrow, so I'll get writing and hopefully wake up in time to catch my bus tomorrow! ENJOY. **

"Do I look okay?" I asked for the millionth time. I'd left school halfway during music class, and Nessie had followed by foot as soon as the final bell had rung.

"Bella, you're a vampire," Nessie said slowly, "but I would still recommend breathing. You're going to give yourself a heart attack, and you don't even have a working heart!"

"I know, I know, I'm just…" I wrung my hands together nervously as I paced the room.

"Freaking out?" Nessie guessed. I sighed. "Bella, just relax," she commanded, walking towards me. "They just want to talk to you. And… you still have over three hours."

"You're right… But are you sure this shirt is okay?" I looked down at my outfit. Same skinny jeans as earlier, matched with a black long sleeve with a modest neckline.

"The shirt's fine, but what about shoes?"

I groaned. Now Nessie was never going to let me leave the house unless I had accessories, a belt that matched my handbag…

"Do you have any idea of what sort of questions the teacher was asking?!" I turned to the door, where Sophie was standing, hands on hips, perfect hair looking, well, perfect!

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, when students mysteriously rush off to the bathroom during a class and don't come back, teachers tend to ask questions," she snapped. "Now we're going to have to organize for her to sign your attendance slip, and I doubt she will after you ditched her class… What will the office do?"

"We'll just have to convince them it was a misunderstanding," Will said patiently, entering the room with Juliette. "Liam'll be up in a sec, he's just grabbing our stuff for us."

"Okay," I answered shakily. "Okay," I muttered. "Okay, okay, okay-"

"Bella! Snap out of it!" I turned to face Sophie with shock. "Yes, you! Look, what are you freaking out about?"

"Oh, I don't know," I said impatiently. "A reunion with my vampire ex and his family, trying to explain that as soon as he dumped me I turned into a vampire and that I still have feelings for him? Jeez, why am I nervous, Soph?"

"Sorry," she said moodily. "But I don't get why you're freaking out."

"I wouldn't expect you to," I murmured.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you always get everything you wanted," I roared. "The perfect boyfriend, a family who loves you, perfect looks, even for a vampire, everyone drooling over you… The perfect life. And then there's me, the girl who got dumped and left for dead, forced to survive on her own and teach herself how to hunt animals and not humans, the girl who constantly feels guilty for changing five humans, the girl who is about to go into hostile territory to discuss the past with seven vampires!"

"Both of you need to cool down right now!" Nessie ordered, stepping in between us. "Sophie, Bella's just nervous, you don't need to make things worse. Bella, what's gotten into you? There's no need to take your anger out on your family!"

I turned to the side, but when I saw Juliette, Will and Liam watching with surprise, I turned back to Sophie.

"Renesme's right," I muttered. "Sorry."

"Apology accepted," she smiled. "I'm sorry, too," she added, coming forward to give me a hug. I squeezed her once more before she pulled away. "Now, let's go keep you occupied for the next three hours!"

I sighed as she dragged me off, listing things to do.

Twenty painted nails (raspberry), fourteen chapters, two episodes of Pretty Little Liars and seven maths exercises later, Nessie ran down the stairs, my black ballet flats in hand, announcing it was time to leave if we were to make it on time.

I did my best to procrastinate, using excuses like 'should I wear mascara and eyeliner?' and 'maybe I should straighten my hair' to get Nessie to slow down. Unfortunately, this evening was the one evening Nessie decided to abandon all fashion hints from her favourite magazine, and go all plain Jane on me.

"Bella, if you want to do something with your hair, put it in a ponytail!" she demanded angrily, car keys in hand by the garage door. "Now let's _go! _It's already ten minutes later than when we should have left. Edward's going to think you didn't want to go."

"But I _don't _want to go!"

"Nuh-uh," Sophie said. "I just found out who 'A' was for crying out loud! I watch Pretty Little Liars on Friday nights only, curled up in a sleeping bag, pretending I'm a normal teenage girl, not in the middle of the week with my hyperventilating older sister who's nervous about going to meet her vampire ex and his family after not seeing them for almost a century! That doesn't scream normal, does it? You are going to go to his house whether you like it or not, missy. I was saving that episode to watch alone with Liam."

"Thank you," Liam mouthed over his shoulder, giving me the thumbs up.

"Fine," I sighed. "But I am taking Nessie's ponytail offer." I raced upstairs before she could stop me.

"I'm doing it," a voice announced behind me, pulling my hairbrush off my dresser. "Sit." Nessie pointed to an empty chair.

"You were wrong," I commented as she started brushing.

"About?"

"Edward thinking I didn't want to go. Alice has known we've been going all afternoon. There were no doubts."

"Be safe," Will ordered from the front seat. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Juliette whispered. She leaned over to give him a kiss before climbing out of the car and coming to meet Renesme and I by a fir tree.

"I'll meet you back here soon," Will called. "If you're not back in an hour, I'm coming to get you."

"Two hours," Nessie replied. "One's too short."

"An hour and a half."

"Will," I began, "we're going to have a _lot _to talk about."

"But Juliette-"

"Will be perfectly fine with us," Nessie assured him. "If Bella said the Cullen's won't start a fight, then I believe her. Don't you trust Bella?"

"But-"

"Do you trust Bella?" Nessie persisted.

He sighed. "Yes."

"We'll come when we're done," Nessie said. "No time limit. We all have our phones. If you call one of us and we don't answer, then you can come, okay?"

"Fine," he grumbled.

"Thank you. Now let's go, ladies."

"Bye, Will!" Juliette called over her shoulder.

We tore through the trees, wind whipping through our hair as we ran. I wasn't thinking about anything, really. Not the safety of my family (because I _knew _it wouldn't become physical), not what I would tell Esme, not how I'd act around Edward, not preparing myself for the questions that would surely come from Carlisle, or my over-ecstatic ex-best friend Alice… I didn't need to concrete on not hitting a tree. I remembered how scared I was when Edward would run with me on his back. It seemed foolish to me now.

I stopped on the border of the trees. _1 Gravillea Crescent…_

"This is it," Nessie whispered. I could see shadows moving behind closed curtains. They knew we were here. They were vampires, after all. They could hear us running past trees, and even the three words Nessie had just uttered.

The house was very Esme. It looked like something from Charlestown, Savannah, in the late eighteen hundreds. Elegant balconies, a grand front door, white balconies with flowing curtains and delicate French doors… I could only imagine what the interior looked like.

"Bella, are you ready?" Juliette was looking at me intently, hands slightly raised, as if she was going to catch me if I fainted or something. I don't know what I looked like, because we both knew vampires couldn't faint.

I nodded, too choked up to form words. We proceeded to the front doors at a slow pace. When we came to the front door I was in front, with Nessie and Juliette just behind me, on either side.

What did I do? Did I announce we were here, even though they already knew? Should I knock?

I didn't have to choose, because the door swung inwards almost instantly, presenting Esme. She looked as beautiful as always, with most of her hair pulled into a fancy knot, with a few curly strands framing her face. She was wearing a white dress that hung to her knees, and I instantly felt under dressed. Carlisle was standing right behind her, one hand on her shoulder. He was dressed more casually, with a navy blue sweater and dark trousers.

"Bella," Esme breathed. "Oh, you haven't changed one bit!"

"That tends to happen when you're immortal," Nessie said sarcastically. Esme looked stunned, and I whipped around to glare at Nessie, slightly shaking my head. She shrugged.

"Why don't you come in?" Carlisle suggested.

He stepped out of the way, holding the door for us as we filed in. "This way," Esme smiled, and I couldn't help but smile back. She had that effect on people. We followed further down the corridor, where we entered a large, airy room, similar to their house in Forks. High ceiling, white walls, light hardwood coloured floors, fluffy couches…

And five vampires.

Rosalie was standing with Emmett near a set of French doors at the back of the room. Alice was with Jasper in the centre, and, a mere few metres away from me, was Edward.

I took a deep breath, and Nessie gently rubbed my back. "It's okay," she muttered.

"Come sit down," Alice smiled kindly.

We followed, casting nervous glances at each other as we sat timidly on the edge of the seats.

"It's strange, not seeing Bella trip over absolutely nothing anymore," Emmett mused. I couldn't resist – I cracked a smile.

"So, we have lots to catch up on!" Rosalie said, a little too perkily for it to be genuine, coming to sit down beside me. I looked over at her warily, expecting her to bite my head off. Which was perfectly in her range of capability, I might add.

She rolled her eyes and Emmett coughed loudly behind her. She whipped around, having a silent conversation before turning back to me. "Bella," she sighed, straightening her shoulders and lowering her gaze. "I just wanted to say… I'm sorry. For being such a bitch to you back in Forks. I just thought… anyways, I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"

Whatever I had expected to come out of her mouth, that was certainly not on the list. Back when I was seventeen, I would have jumped at the chance of Rosalie liking me. But now… was it really that important?

But then I realised – she was the only one being honest with me all along. Who knows how long Alice put up with me, when all she wanted to do was come home and hang out with Jasper or Rosalie. Who knows how long Edward had pretended to love and care for me. But Rosalie… she had been genuine with her feelings towards me the whole time I knew her. And now she was trying to find it in her heart to _like me?_

"Of course, Rosalie," I finally replied, my words still sounding full of shock. She smiled softly, then stood up and walked back to Emmett, who wrapped his arms around her and pecked her on the forehead. Her falsetto happiness was gone, replaced with the real Rosalie – not the snooty rich girl I'd seen in Forks, nor the happiest girl in the world act. She was being… Rosalie. Down to earth, Rosalie.

I must say, I never saw that coming!

"Okay, I know everyone's thinking it, and I don't even have to be a mindreader!" Alice spluttered out. "Bella, how did you change?"

"Er," I began. How did I tell something like this to my ex-boyfriend and his family. "It was… soon after you left and I… I sort of died." Not a lie – the non-beating heart in my chest is proof of that.

The room was silent, absorbing what I had just said. "Well, I'm glad to see you've chosen our type of 'diet'!" Esme said pleasantly, trying to make conversation. "I assume that's all thanks to your coven's leader?"

"I'm actually the coven's leader," I answered shyly.

"Oh?" Carlisle asked, surprised. "The vampire who changed you, then?"

"Victoria never struck me as the anti-killer type, actually," I said boldly. I heard everyone gasp, and I looked to Edward. Black eyes, pale skin, hands clenched at his sides… he finally looked like a modern Dracula.

"Victoria?!" he roared.

"Edward?" I whispered.

"_She _changed you?" he yelled. Fierce growls ripped from his throat.

"Edward, what's going on?" I asked loudly, jumping up. "Why are you so angry about it? You left, didn't you? What do you care about what happened to me?"

"What do I 'care', Bella?" he asked. "_What do I care?!"_

"So you're just annoyed that the small town fling girl is now immortal, is that it?" I asked angrily. "I was your puppet for a while, but then you grew bored of me after a couple of months, and suddenly I'm an immortal nuisance? Is that it?"

"Bella, why would you think-" Esme started.

"Because I remember very clearly what you told me that day in the woods, Edward!" I shouted.

The room was silent. Edward and Alice winced.

"What do you mean?" Emmett begun slowly.

I looked at the Cullen family incredulously. "They don't know," Alice put in softly. "They think Edward just told you we had to leave… that it was for the best, but we couldn't stay in one place too long."

"You didn't tell them the truth?" I whispered, looking at Edward. My temper had quietened down now, and Renesmee and Juliette were sitting quietly on the seat behind me.

"Tell us what?" Esme asked, stepping to stand beside me. "Bella, what did he tell you?"

"That he didn't love me," I whispered. "That I didn't deserve him, that he didn't want to put up with me anymore, that he didn't care for me… If it was the truth, why would you lie to your family, Edward?"

"Because he wasn't lying," Alice murmured. "Bella, Edward still loves you."

I felt the pain in my heart, then, the same feeling I'd felt when he'd disappeared from my life all those years ago. The feeling of pain, and agony, and loneliness. I struggled to compose myself.

A feeling of calmness washed over me.

"Jasper," I snapped. "I'm trying to think."

He shrugged. "Sorry, just trying to help. I can manipulate your feelings all I want, Bella, but it won't make the love go away."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I muttered.

"Of course you do," he smiled sadly. "I've felt the exact same emotion from Edward, every day since he left you. You've just buried yours, because you don't want to feel it."

I scowled at him. "Who are these beautiful girls?" Esme asked politely, trying to avoid tension.

"This is Juliette and Renesme," I introduced, pointing to my sisters in turn.

"Renesme?" Alice asked. "That's a peculiar name."

"I prefer Nessie," Ness corrected. "It's shorter. Anyways, yeah, Bella picked it."

"Bella?" Carlisle asked.

"Yeah," Nessie continued. "She changed me. She also changed Sophie. Did you know Bella's never drank human blood, besides mine and Soph's?"

"Oh." I bowed my head, trying to avoid the embarrassment.

"Why did you pick 'Renesme'?" Rose asked.

"It's a mix between Renee and Esme," I muttered.

"My middle name's Alice," Nessie said, looking towards my old best friend. I tried to look away, but I couldn't ignore the touched faces on Alice and Esme. They seemed really pleased.

"I couldn't remember anything about my human life, and I trusted Bella… she did change me, after all, so I asked her to pick a name," Nessie smiled. I smiled shyly back. This situation was slightly uncomfortable.

"That's so sweet, Bella!" Esme exclaimed. She wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me close. Carlisle gently disentangled her from me, laughing.

"I think Bella needs to sort some things out with Edward," he smiled kindly.

I took a hesitant breath, then nodded.

I looked to Edward, who gestured towards the back door. I nodded again. "I'll meet you back here," I whispered to Nessie and Juliette. Edward took off running, taking the lead, and I followed in his wake.

**Like? Hate? Sorry to anyone whose idea I didn't use :( Keep reading? One more chapter left! Then I can start sleeping again at night… ;)**

**~Pascal xx**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

**A/N: Okay, final chapter! That doesn't mean I don't still appreciate reviews and favourites, though ;) Please please please review if you love me! Lol. Anyways, sorry it took so long, homework has officially taken over my left. I'm actually supposed to be doing maths homework, English questions, a food tech assignment, a geography sheet and studying for a French speaking test, but you goes had top priority tonight ;) I'm in year nine, by the way. Fourteen. And I'm Australian, so if the age and grade sounds messed up or anything, yeah… I don't really know how the rest of the world functions off by heart, but anyways… Okay, I'm blabbing. Please read and I really hope you like it!**

**Also thank you to my two favourite readers-**

**Saxophoneplayaa15 (I think that's her username…)  
DemiGoddess2012**

**Love you two babes so much! XXXXXXXXX 3**

He'd already stopped, in a little clearing, just beyond the trees. I paused, taking a deep, unnecessary breath. What was he going to say? I smoothed my hair back, flattening the little whisps back from my flawless forehead.

Pushing forward, I emerged through the trees.

He was facing me, eyes black, hands clenched. I frowned. Had I done something wrong? Had I offended him? Or was he just annoyed that I was still around?

"Oh, Bella," he whispered. "I'm so sorry." He put his hands to his face and collapsed to the ground. I fidgeted nervously, wringing my hands together. This wasn't normal for me – I was a beautiful, intelligent immortal… So why was I freaking out?!

"Edward?" I finally asked. "Are… Are you alright?"

"Alright?" he asked, dropping his hands and looking me in the eye. I bit back a gasp at the man I saw – he wasn't the same person I knew, the one from Forks whose smile echoed in his eyes. This man… this man was being tortured.

"Bella… what you must have gone through… what you must have endured… all my fault…" he trailed off, slowly standing up and walking over to me, stopping a mere few metres away from me. "I don't deserve your forgiveness. I don't deserve to know what happened. I don't deserve to have any part in your life. I don't deserve _you_. I never did, and I never will. Nothing I do could ever possibly begin to gain your forgiveness. But… what happened? When I left… I thought…"

"What did you think?" I snapped. _I _was the one that was supposed to be upset. _I _was supposed to be the emotionally unstable one. He couldn't just steal my role! How was I supposed to react now?

"What did you think, Edward? That you could just drop a bomb like that and _leave?_ No warning, just _boom! _Gone. Thanks to you, I'd sort of made enemies. You were the only thing keeping them away. What did you expect would happen?"

"Victoria," Edward growled.

"Did you really expect me to just turn around and go home when you left? That I'd live my life out happily? Be besties with Jessica, get close to Lauren, keeping working at the Newton's, have study sessions with Angela at the library, get top of the class in Spanish… Hey, maybe I'd even marry Mike and have a big family! Of course not! I was in love with you, you stupid vampire! I tried to follow you. I didn't want you to leave. I was wondering around for hours looking for you. I was only human. I collapsed in the rain, tired, hungry… I just wanted to die, Edward. And then Victoria came, and granted my wish. She meant to kill me. But something… wolves, or large animals… something came and attacked her, leaving me as a vampire.

"Do you have any idea what torture I went through?" I asked him. I was being cruel now, but he deserved it. "I had to try and crawl through the mud and gunk to somewhere where no one would find me. I couldn't scream, or make a noise. I had to be _silent._ I had the entire Forks PD looking for me, including my own father, and I was going through hell. But I made it. I thought that was pain… what about the next sixteen years alone? The next sixteen years making sure I didn't slip up once? The next sixteen years where I had to figure out when I was ready for certain challenges? The sixteen years where I tried to contact you, just to speak to Carlisle? I'd been told what to expect as a vampire, of course, but you never went into great detail. What was I supposed to do? How strong would the thirst for blood be? How would I cope? What would I do if I met another vampire? How close was too close to human society? I am so damn lucky that I could ignore blood better than most vampires, otherwise I would have slipped up one too many times and headed straight on over to Italy."

"Bella…" His eyes were agonized, body tensed as if waiting for a fight… with himself. "I can't begin to explain how sorry I am. I can't begin to tell you how much regret I'm feeling. I should have never left. I loved you, and I-"

"You _loved me?_" I screeched. "Edward, you're definition of love and my definition of love must be pretty damn different to mine, because leading me on for almost a year certainly doesn't count as love in my books!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked incredulously.

"I'm talking about pretending to be in love with the stupid human girl!" I called out. "Pretending to love me, feeling bad when vampires tried to kill me so saving me, continuing to fake love for me, and finally getting the wake-up call when Jasper took a snap at me. Finally realizing you had to tell me the truth. But it was too late. I'd fallen for you long ago, and I was too far gone. I loved you, Edward. Can't you see that? I put all my trust in you, and you just left. Was Alice faking too? Did you ask her to? Ooh, maybe it was her idea! Maybe you all had a bet. 'I dare you to lead that new girl on', was that it? Well, guess what, it worked. Joke's on me, I guess. Bet you all had a real laugh when you left."

"Laugh?" he demanded. "Bella, you were everything to me. I could barely live without you by my side! Twice I tried to visit the Volturi in the first _six months. _Alice only just caught me in the airport. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here talking to you… You have no idea how long I've been wanting to hear your voice, see your face."

"So did Emmett start the dare up again when you realised my clan and I were in town?" I demanded. I could feel tears prickling at my eyes – tears that would never fall. "Or was it Jasper? They liked to bet, I remember. A hundred bucks if you make me fall in love again? Two hundred for a kiss? Three hundred if you get me to sleep with you?!"

"Bella!" Edward cried. "Please…" He tried to grab my hand, but I darted away from him.

"I'm not a game, Edward! I'm not your little toy!"

"Bella, you don't understand!"

"I understand perfectly fine," I snapped. "I'm a grown up, Edward. I've gone through enough heartache and kept loving you for almost a century now, I _get things_."

Silence.

"You kept loving me?" he wondered aloud.

I stared at him. "Of course," I whispered. "How could I not? I knew you didn't love me. I knew you never did. I knew you never would. But I also knew I would never stop loving you."

"Bella," he whispered. His eyes were still black, but the cold, hard angles of his face had started to smooth out as his anger slowly left. "I love you."

"Don't lie to me, Edward."

"But it's true!"

"Edward, don't!" I roared, standing on my tiptoes to try and look more intimidating. "I barely managed to survive when you left the first time. Hell, I _didn't _survive. But I barely managed to find the will to push forward. If I have to go through that a second time… I don't think I can make it."

"Bella, when I left… it wasn't for the reasons you think it was. It wasn't for the reasons that I told you about."

"Then why, Edward?" I asked. Shock crossed my face. "Did you meet another girl?"

"What?" he shouted. "Bella, how could-"

"Was she prettier than me?" I whispered. My eyes were glazed over. "Smarter? Funnier? Just better than me in general? Was she immortal? Did you _know _you could spend all eternity with her?"

"Bella-"

"Did I even stand a chance?"

"Bella!"

I snapped out of my gaze as he strode towards me, quick as a flash. In less than a second he was in front of me, hands on my face and lifting my chin towards his face.

"You were the only woman for me," he whispered. I wanted to fight him. I knew I should struggle, but… I didn't want to. I wanted him to hold me like this. I wanted it to be like it used to be. "I never looked at a girl like I looked at you. You were the _first _person to make me fall for you, Bella, and I fell hard. In over a century, before I met you, _no girl_ had ever even made me have a crush on her, or think she was beautiful, or amazing, or perfect. But I thought you were all those things, and more. You stole my heart, Bella, and when I left… you kept it. Nobody's taken it again. The girls I've seen since I've left… I've noticed women even less than before you. I don't even look at them. Because you're the only girl for me."

"Then why did you go?" I whispered, desperate for answers. "If you truly did love me, why did you love me, unprotected and hurt?"

"I had no choice," he whispered back. "I was angry at myself. Furious. How could I continue to put you in so much danger? How could I continually put you in harm's way? First James, then Jasper… How much longer would it be before you _died? _Forever. How much longer could I stay? I wasn't going to change you, and I wouldn't let Carlisle."

"Why?" I begged again. "Did you not want me around forever?"

He chuckled sadly. "Bella, I couldn't steal your soul from you. That would make me the most horrifying monster in the world. I would hate myself forever. And the result? Having you forever. Bella, there would be nothing I'd want more than to spend eternity with you. Nothing. But the price? It was too high. I couldn't take your human life _and _your soul from you."

"You left to _protect me? _That doesn't make sense, Edward," I scolded.

"Doesn't it?" he asked sadly. "Bella, I loved you more than anything. And to hear Jasper's thoughts when he wanted to kill you… To see in his mind the way he wanted to tear your throat out, feed on your limp body…" He shuddered. "And the monster in me was raging for your blood as well. But I had to stop Jasper. If I hadn't had him as a distraction, I wasn't sure I wouldn't have turned around and attacked you myself. I almost did. And to see you hurt? Lying broken in the glass, your blood everywhere… And to know I had done that to you. That killed me. That was the moment I knew we had to leave. We had to keep you safe, no matter the cost. It was like I told you – a human's memory is no more than a sieve. You would have forgotten about me eventually. And even if you hadn't, you would have moved on."

"No, I don't think I would have," I muttered.

He raised his eyebrows. "I think I had fallen too hard for you by that point to have simply 'moved on'. I don't think I was capable of thought. Sure, life would have gone on. I would have kept cooking for Charlie, eating, sleeping, doing homework, working, going to school, graduated from high school, gone to college… But I would never been the same. I would have been a permanent wallflower. And after you… I don't think I would have fallen in love again, either."

"Really?" he whispered. "Don't you think-"

I shook my head feebly, a difficult task with Edward's hands capturing my face. "No. I would have loved you forever. And I have loved you forever. I think the only reason I'm still here is my sister."

"Funny," he smiled faintly. "My sister's the only reason I'm still here, too."

I gave a weak smile and he hesitantly leaned down, pausing just above my lips to see if I was alright with what was happening. I knew I shouldn't be. I should be pushing away, telling him I couldn't forgive him. But I didn't want to. Not know. I needed this. Edward was exactly my brand of heroin.

He gently touched his lips to mine, but only for a second. In the next instant, he had pulled me close to his body, every part of us touching. He lips were pushing against mine, and his hands were on my face. My own were tangled in his hair, and he were struggling to not hurt each other with our immense strength. Finally we break away, and he leaned his forehead against mine.

He smiled at me. "I've dreamed of doing that since forever."

I smiled back at him. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

**THE END**

**A/N: Sorry if you didn't like… But I had so many people giving me ideas that if I used them all, the story would be very messed up! Anyways, final chapter (sad face). I'll miss you guys. Follow my account for the next story update? Love you so much, please review!**

**~Pascal xx**


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